e recently recieved a very interesting comment on our Odd (and Even) Little Race game. The comment came from JaneB, one of our mathstick members, she said:
Thanks for this, my class had great fun playing it. Funny how when it comes to playing against a partner their reconition of odd and even numbers improves tenfold!!!
She then went on to describe a rather intriguing game. We thought it worthwhile to post it here. Here’s how it goes, Jane says:
We’ve also played an odd and even game in the style of ‘Rock,Paper, Scissors’.
In pairs one person will choose to be ‘odd‘ and the other ‘even‘.
Both partners make a fist and on the count of 3 open the fist and hold up either 1,2,3,4 or 5 fingers. They then count the total number of fingers held up and if it’s an odd number then a point is awarded to the child who originally chose to be ‘odd’, and likewise if it’s an even number. (This also led to a discussion on how to record this, and a quick revision lesson on tallying!) The first to reach 10 was the winner and then we swapped over so that both partners had a turn at being ‘odd’ and ‘even’
We thought this was a very engaging, simple idea – not one we had heard of before, but one we could imagine children would start playing in the playground or at home. It was also one that could lead meaningfully into an “Odd + Odd = Even” and “Even + Odd = Odd” investigation.
What better way to spread the power of maths?
It’s amazing what you find lurking in the comments. Thanks again JaneB.
If you want to contribute an idea, a blog post or a resource contact us – we are always keen to hear from our members.
