Hands up!
Concept:
Learners take turns to say the next number in a number pattern. The learner who finishes the pattern must put up their hand. The winner is the first learner to put up both hands.
Purpose
- Learners practice skip counting
- Learners practice remembering what number to start at and what number to finish at
How to play
- Firstly, players must agree on three things:
- We start at …
- We count forwards or backwards in …
- We end at…
- For example: We start at 10. We count backwards in ones. We end at 5.
- Sit in a circle and one player starts at 10, the next player says 9, and the next player says 8, etc.
- The player who says 5 must hold up their hand.
- The next player then starts again at 10, and the next says 9, until we arrive at 5 again…. again the player who says 5 must hold up a hand. The next player starts again at 10.
- The first player to put both hands up (in other words the first player to say the last number in the sequence twice) is the winner.
Notes
- Count in ones, or twos or fives or tens
- Count forward and backwards
- Use a particular phrase:
‘1 less than 10 is 9’, ‘1 less than 9 is 8’. 1 less than 8 is 7; or
‘2 more than 3 is 5’, ‘2 more than 5 is 7’, 2 more than 7 is 9’, etc. - Use a structured number line or bead string, or pile of counters to support the game.
