Item Tag: Handmade

This Halloween, educational math game is adorable! I laminated the boards for durability! I used this game, in my kindergarten classroom, during the month of October. My students absolutely loved it! This set is clean and comes from a smoke free home. This game is for 2-4 players. It can be used with preschool, kindergarten, or 1st grade children. The math skills reinforced in this game are counting to ten and counting by tens and adding on ones to come up with a 2-digit number. The game consists of 4 spider web mats that measure 8.5″ x 5.375″, 37 large black plastic spiders, 64 small black plastic spiders, and 1 orange or yellow large 1.5″ foam die. After laminating the spider web mats, I applied orange adhesive dots to them to designate areas on which to put the baby spiders. To set up this game, the large Mother spiders are placed on one side of the playing area. The small baby spiders are placed on another side. Each child gets a spider web mat. To play this game, children simply roll the die and take the number of small spiders designated by the number on the die. Play then continues to the next player. Once a player fills up his/her orange dots with 10 baby spiders, he/she trades them in for 1 big Mother spider and places it on the web. Then, players continue rolling the die, placing baby spiders on the orange dots, and trading them in for a Mother spider every time they have 10. The game may continue for as long as you wish. At the close of the game, scoring can be done in 2 different ways. For younger children, the player that has the most large Mother spiders, on their web mat, is the winner. If 2 players have an equal number of Mother spiders, then it comes down to the player with the most baby spiders to determine the winner. For older children, the winner is determined the same way, but players must count their Mother spiders by tens, add on their baby spiders by counting on by ones, and come up with a 2-digit number that represents their total. As the spider mats are laminated, children might also be asked to write down their 2-digit total on the web, with a dry erase marker, after all spiders have been removed. This game is nice, because it is multi-level, geared toward differentiated instruction, and can be used with a range of ages (preschoolers, kindergarteners, or 1st graders). Therefore, it can “grow” with children. As there are no written directions for this homemade game, you may want to copy and print this description if you purchase this item. This game would make an wonderful addition to a preschool, kindergarten, or 1st grade classroom! It would also be great to have in a household with young children! I am hoping to find it a good home.