Boxi Math

Back to Stage 0 / Unit0B · Break apart and put together

Game card for parents · 0B-4 · Ages 3–5 · 5 min

Two Car Parks

Moving cars between two spaces shows your child that five can be split in many ways and is still five.

S-1 Numbers are amountsS-5 Patterns can be put into words

You need

  • 5 toy cars (or 5 small toys)
  • 2 shoebox lids or 2 sheets of paper as car parks

How to play

  1. Park all 5 cars in one car park.
  2. Drive one car over to the other car park.
  3. Say it: 4 here and 1 there, 5 cars altogether.
  4. Keep driving one car at a time until they're all moved.

Guess first

If one more car drives over, how many will be left here? Guess, then drive it and see.

Three things to ask

  1. Did we lose any cars?
  2. Which way of parking do you like best?
  3. What happens if we start from the other car park?

Easier

Use 3 cars.

Harder

Use 6 or 7 cars and lay out the splits in a row from 6 and 0 to 0 and 6.

Watch for

Some children want to recount all five every time. That's fine. Noticing "one goes up, one goes down" is a pattern to celebrate.

boxi-math.github.io · CC BY 4.0 · Boxi Yu