Children build roads with dominoes by placing matching numbers together.
Children QUICKLY find a domino that matches one already placed. Racing against time helps children strengthen their subitizing skills.
Some children may need more or less time.
Materials
- Set of dominoes (more sets if you want to extend play or if you remove the dominoes with five and six dots)
Preparation
- Place all the dominoes facedown in random order in front of the children.
Directions
- Tell the children that they must place dominoes with matching numbers together, and that they will race to see who can build the longest road with the dominoes. The winner is the person who has the most dominoes with the correct matching sets of numbers.
- Play the first round with the children to demonstrate. Everyone should play at the same time. Quickly turn over dominoes and place matching ones together. Note that the children can match the dominoes end-to-end or from the sides, as in the picture above. At the end of each round, have the children count the dots on the dominoes they connected to see how many match.
- After the children have played several rounds, talk with them about what they did and how to improve the game. Ask, How did you know that these two dominoes matched? What is the same and what is different about these two dominoes (point to two dominoes with the same number of dots, but different arrangements)? Was the game hard? Do you want to change the rules? What new rules do you want to add?
Note: The game may need to be modified for individual learning needs. To make the game easier, remove the dominoes with six dots, or even those with five. However, you may need to add another set so there are enough dominoes to play.
To make the game more challenging, play rounds where the children have only twenty seconds (increase time as needed) to find dominoes and make matches. When the time is up, everyone must immediately stop moving. Any unplaced dominoes must be returned to the pile.