Hands-On Math: Practice with Tally Marks

Simple supplies are all you need to practice with tally marks.  We used a whiteboard (though pencil and paper would work) and a single die for a quick and easy game that provided lots of practice making tally marks, adding to existing marks, and counting up tallies.  (Bonus math: practice counting by fives!)

I avoid a workbook style math curriculum for my son, after realizing in Kindergarten that it did not suit his learning style.  We use the Life of Fred Elementary Series and an old series of books called I Love Math.

Life of Fred works well because the books focus on understanding math concepts, are based on funny stories, and each chapter only has a handful of questions.  The I Love Math series (only available used) also contains stories, along with games, word problems, and suggestions for hands-on activities.

As needed I find extra hands-on practice for math concepts:  like playing store for coin recognition and dividing items for even and odd.

We read about tally marks in I Love Math: How Do Octupi Eat Pizza Pie and I realized a little practice was in order.  The book suggested counting straws, but I figured a little competitive game would be more fun.

I grabbed a die and small white board.  I told him the simple rules:  we take turns rolling the die, whoever gets to 25 points first wins!  I kept tallies for the first game.  On the second game it was his turn to keep track of our scores.  (He decided the game needed a name, so we worked together to pick “Roll for Points.”)

This game is quick and easy, so we’ll play it once in a while until he’s a pro with tally marks.  Maybe later we’ll add extra dice, make the point goal higher, or even add the numbers on the dice together!

What are your favorite math games, whether it’s one you bought or made up yourself?