making math FUN with take over games!

I don't know about you, but when I think about the math I did in elementary school it typically involved work books/text books and copying question after question. Needless to say, I didn't particularly love math growing up. Now that I'm a teacher, I try to make math as engaging and as fun as possible - and for my kiddos that means lots of GAMES! I've created these Take Over games and my students LOVE them.

These games all involve the same skill - adding and subtracting with dice. For my kids, I find they consistently need practice and repetition with this throughout the whole year, so I've created themed versions to take out throughout the year.

The materials you will need (besides the game!) are dice - you can use two dice or one double dice. My students find the double dice super exciting to use. You will also need some sort of counter in two colours (or more, if kids are playing in larger groups).

With Valentine's Day approching so soon, I thought I'd show you inside the Valentine's game.

Valentine's Day TAKE OVER - available here

10 game boards are included - 5 for addition and 5 for subtraction. They feature the numbers in different spots. The way the game works is:

Students take turns rolling two dice (or one double dice) and adding or subtracting the numbers.

They then cover the number on the board.

If another student rolls the same number, they can take over that spot with their own colour.

If a student rolls a number they already own, they can take over a picture.

The game can go on almost indefinitely, so I set a timer (usually 10-15 minutes) and when it goes off, they count how many spaces they own. Whoever has the most is the winner!