Number Sense | Recognizing Different Forms of Numerals

 

Have you ever awoke with the answer to a problem? I was trying to think of a fun way to help my grandson recognize different forms of numerals when I went to sleep the other night. When I woke up, I had a plan for this game. I am thinking I may have seen something similar online at some time, but here it is. I'm calling it Number Sense.

To begin with, I made up an image to put on the back of my cards with Canva. Then, I put 6 of them on one page of a document on Word and printed them out on cardstock. After I cut them, I made a deck of cards with 5 different representations of each of the numbers between 1 and 12 using tally marks, dominoes, number words, Roman numerals, and Arabic numerals.

The game is played like Rummy. Each player is dealt 7 cards. The object of the game is to be the first player to lay down all of the cards in their hand. In order to lay down cards, a player must have at least 3 of the cards representing the same numeral or add to a set that another player has already laid on the board. 

The game starts with the first player looking to see if they have a set of 3 of the same numerals they can lay down. If not, they must pick up a card from the pile. If they now have a set, they may set it down. If not their turn is over. At the end of each turn, whether they set any cards down on the board or not, each player must put one card in the discard pile. 

The next player also looks to see if they can lay down a set of 3 cards, or place one or more of their cards on a set the other player(s) have placed on the board. If not, they must pick up a card either from the unused deck or from the discard pile. It is acceptable to pick up more than one card from the discard pile, however, they must pick up all the cards above the card they have picked up. 

Players keep taking turns until one player runs out of cards. 

Feel free to use my card back image to make this game for yourself!