Educational Game: Gnoming A Round

If your child comes home and tells you that they're learning about negative numbers, that means that they are now playing Gnoming A Round!

This fun card game is great as a simple introduction to the concept of having less than zero. Jamie York suggests explaining this to children using the example of a bank account balance being overdrawn... as opposed to a number line, which is too abstract. With Gnoming A Round the lowest score wins (it's based on golf), so the subtraction cards are the best ones to get.

To keep scoring easy for the children to understand, we score this using the Mortensen materials. Based on the Montessori method, the Mortensen materials are plastic color-coded rectangular pieces that are hollow inside. When flipped upside down, they represent negative numbers.

To score the game, you tally up all of your positive cards by making a row of pieces that represent your positive points. You then tally up all of your negative cards by making a row of pieces that repesent your negative points. Each piece goes with a card (or set of cards, if you got a row of 3). Put the positive row and the negative row beside one another. Whatever sticks out at the end is your score. Why? Because the positive points and the negative points that match up perfectly have cancelled one another out.

This math manipulative is the perfect concrete way to do the scoring. Having it is extremely helpful. And the children love this game!

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