As you've likely experienced, preschoolers love learning through games! While traditional worksheets can offer a calming, quiet-time activity and certainly have their place, the more you can get your students to engage in an exercise (e.g. the more appealing you can make it), the more connections they'll make and concepts they'll absorb. The creator of the blog, The Adventures of Bear, offers this fun, Thanksgiving-themed printable to get you started!
Concept Alternatives
For younger, less advanced learners, have students practice number recognition and counting skills.
For older, more advanced learners, have students practice number bonds, specifically two numbers that work together to make ten - the cards are specifically designed for this feature, the number in the upper left-hand corner of each "pair" (i.e. 6 and 4, 2 and 8, etc.) sports a matching color.
Applications
Go Fish! Print, cut apart, and laminate several copies of the game cards. Create at least two sets and keep adding by twos (e.g. 4, 6, etc.) for a greater challenge.
Rules of the Game
Each player is dealt 3 cards with the remaining cards placed face down in the center of the table. [NOTE: The game is best played with 3-6 players.]
Each player looks through their hand and discards any pairs (younger children will discard matching numbers, older children will make pairs based on number bonds as described above.
The student left of the dealer starts the game by asking a specific player (regardless of their position in the circle) for a card that will help them make a match. If the player does not have the card they say "Go fish!" and the student must select a card from the middle. If the player has the card (or multiples of the card), they must give all of them to the student. The student then makes a pair and continues their turn until they're told to "Go fish!" by another player.
When the center pile is gone or a student has discarded all of their cards, the game ends and the student with the most discarded pairs wins!
Old Maid. Print, cut apart, and laminate two copies of the game cards. For younger students, remove one zero card, leaving its match without a pair, to create an "Old Maid" card. For older students, who are making matches based on number bonds, remove both ten cards and one of the zero cards (this means that the "deck" is composed of one zero card and two of each number card 1 through 9).]
Rules of the Game
Deal out all of the cards.
Each player looks through their hand and discards any pairs (younger children will discard matching numbers, older children will make pairs based on number bonds as described above.
The dealer begins the game by offering their cards, face down, to the student on their left. The student chooses a card in the hopes of matching it to one of those left in their hand. If a match can be made, the student places it with their rest of their matches. If a match cannot be made, the card stays in their hand.
After their turn, the student then offers their cards to the player on their left and the process is repeated.
The game continues this way until someone is left holding the unmatchable zero card (or "Old Maid").
Memory. Print, cut apart, and laminate two copies of the game cards. Place the cards face down on a flat surface.
Rules of the Game
Have students roll a dice to see who goes first.
The player rolling the highest number starts out by flipping two cards over, revealing their numbers. If the numbers do not create a match, they are flipped back over and it is the next player's turn. If the numbers do create a match (refer above to the rules for younger and older players), the student claims the cards and continues by flipping over two more cards. This continues until a match cannot be made and then it is the next player's turn.
The game continues until all matches have been made, the player with the most matches wins.
NOTE: The challenge is remembering where specific number cards that have previously been revealed are located in order to make matches!]
With so many variations (and the ability to make things easier or harder depending on the skill level of your students), these game cards are must haves for the preschool classroom!
