Cover Up, an Addition Game

This speedy, two-player addition game is designed to help reinforce number bonds to 10 or 20. You will need the downloadable* board and two sets of counters.

The players have a selection of coloured counters each; one player uses red (for example) and the other, blue. The players take it in turns to cover a pair of numbers on the board which sum to 10. The numbers must be on touching squares, either horizontally or vertically – however, the brick-pattern permits a greater number of potential moves. For example, both of these are permitted moves:

Once a number has been covered by a counter,  it cannot be uncovered or covered again during the game.

The last player who is able to cover a pair of numbers with his or her counters is the winner.

Notes:

• Initially, children may just focus on achieving the total quickly. Later, however, they may start to see alternative moves and select numbers for strategic reasons ... this makes good assessment material!
• The board has been designed so that the game can be adapted to work with number bonds to 20 – in this case, players may choose to cover up three or four numbers on their turn to create the total.