Gnome Math

This is how my son and I like to "play" math. He is quite insistent that I make him math monsters and not gnomes. For now, our little gnomes will do. This is much more simple than tea party math but still fun.

We use the gnomes and numbers to make an addition or subtraction problem. My son likes to use Lego's or other small objects as counters. Having small counters really make a difference for him. We make up story's as we go. If you are using Mr. Plus gnome. We always know that he brings things with him to play with. Mr. Plus would bring 5 little dinosaurs to play with your 6 dinosaurs. How many are there to play with now? Obviously, when ever you play with Mr. Plus you are adding, so he is always bringing something. Now Mr. Minus, he's a bit of a stinker, because he always takes things away. Mr. minus came to play at your house. Mom just baked 15 cookies. Mr. Minus snuck in and ate 7 of them. Now how many of them are left? It can be quite interesting to hear the different scenarios your children can come up with for subtraction when a thief is involved.

My son had a hard time remembering the function of the + and - symbols. Turning them in to characters, one who is always generous and one who is a thief, helped him understand the function of the symbol. Plus we got to count his dinosaurs, animals, and whatever else he could find. With this one you also want a lot more numbers. I made him up a bunch of numbers on little wood circles also.