Dominoes!

Whoever said dominoes were just a game? I think dominoes are a great learning tool, especially for early addition. I bought my son his own dominoes and I sit him down with them and a piece of paper. He picks a domino and counts how many dots are on one side of the line and writes that number down. Then he does the other side and puts the + then the number. Then at first I have him count all the dots for the = I have him do about 10 problems at a time. After I know he is familiar with the dominoes with the + 0's, 1's and 2's, I separate those dominoes into their own bag and i have him pick 10 of those dominoes and have him count the two sides, but he trys to figure out the answer without counting.

He loves doing his math like this. It's so much more entertaining for him than worksheet after worksheet...and you don't need counters or anything other manipulatives.

Also, once they are getting good at memorizing the equations and answers, switch from dominoes to dice. Give your child a die and have them roll it and then roll it again and have them add the two numbers. Still worksheets aren't necessary! Also, at a teacher supply store they have dice that go up higher (like 20 sided dice) or blank dice. You can get a blank die and 2 normal die. with the blank dice put the numbers 10-60 on them and have them roll the ten's dice and then a normal one to get the first number like "40" and then "2" so 42 is the first number and do it again to get the second number and add them together for harder problems.