"Decorate a Tree" Math Game

The holiday season is here again!  Yahoo :)  All of a sudden, Christmas has shown up everywhere in the stores.  As I wondered through the Target Dollar Spot and saw some red, white, and green pom poms, an idea came to me.  I thought that it would be fun to create a game for my students that involved winter, holiday fun, and math.

Currently, and throughout the year actually, kindergarten students need to work on one:one correspondence.  And, what better way to practice this but with a fun holiday themed dice game!  The students will roll the dice, count how many pips, and then carefully add that many pom poms to the tree.  

(Did you know the dots on dice/dominoes are called pips?)

I have pom poms, but these were already sorted in holiday colors for me and I couldn't  resist buying these from Target when I saw them. 

I also found this bucket that had the cutest design and was the perfect accompanying size for this game.

This will be such a popular station in my room and my kiddos will want to play it often.  The great thing about this game is that it is so easy to differentiate.  And, if you don't want to buy anything to set this up in your own classroom, you probably have lots of materials already that you can use.

Here are some variations to the game, and suggestions for using different supplies:

*Some students will get one die to practice counting 1-6 and make sure that they are successful in their counting.  You can also you beads - you probably have beads socked away somewhere in your room, right?

*You may give students two dice for those students who are ready for counting one:one up to twelve.  

*You can mix it up and use dice that have numbers, versus the pips.  This example also uses beads.  

*The kiddos will have fun rolling numbered dice and counting out the correct number of glass beads to decorate the tree.

*For a nice challenge, hand some students three dice and mix up the combination of dice - numbers and pips.  Shown below are sequins for the counters.

*Another variation is to have students play each other.  You can have the students in partners and each child rolls their own dice and decorates their tree.  Then, they will verify that each one has the correct amount and determine which one is greater than, less than, or equal to each other?  Here you see foam snowflakes for the counters.  

*I don't have a picture of it, but students can also use a domino as another manipulative to count.

I hope you are able to use these game boards and make learning engaging and fun-filled,  as well as provide individualized math games for each student so s/he is challenged and accountable.

If you are looking for another holiday math game, you might want to check out my packet of M&M Holiday Sorting and Counting.  We do this every year as one of our stations at our winter party and it is quite fun!  There are different versions for you to pick the right math skill for your class, individual student or small group.  

Here are some pictures from our winter party using this packet.

Want other great ideas to make learning engaging this time of year?  Make sure to hop to my friend's blogs for some fun freebies and holiday game ideas, but don't forget to snag "Decorate a Tree" below.  

From Left to Right:

Have the Target Christmas erasers? Have fun counting to 20 with these Christmas Eraser Counting Cards from The Kindergarten Connection.

 Have a blast with blends with these Christmas Tree Blends Puzzles from A Dab of Glue Will Do.

Don't put those erasers away yet! Spin and graph with this fun Winter Race game from Recipe for Teaching.

Grab some dice to roll and dazzle your friends with this fun Decorate a Tree activity from Kindergarten Planet.

Make sure you download "Decorate a Tree" here!

Thanks for stopping by :)