Wishbone

Today during recess we played a game I am calling "Wishbone."  You start by taking 10 unifix cubes in a train and two children break it apart like a wishbone.  The first child puts down the cubes she pulled, then a plus sign, then the second child's cubes, an equals sign and finally the number ten.  You can play this game with any amount, but the kids were having fun working with ten, and getting the same equations over and over.  We also worked with the concept "how many more than" by grabbing a fistful of manipulatives and sorting them into two piles, like cats and dogs.  We lined up the cats to the dogs and talked about how many of the lesser quantity we would need to add to equal the greater quantity.  You can do this at home with crayons (reds to blues), coins (pennies to dimes) or even silverware (forks and spoons). Give it a go and tell me what you used to work with the "how many more than" concept.