As with Game Show Math, this is a practice we have been doing for YEARS, always during our summer break. However, I’ve never shared it, because I thought I had to take the time to post all my math cards first. While I’m still planning to make blog posts for them eventually, in the meantime, I decided to just share all the cards in a Minimalist Math Library with my Patreon community! For $5 you can download all the cards for every grade level (currently 1st through 7th) by becoming a Research Parent Patreon member. I hope you continue to support my efforts to create useful and fun educational material for kids, but either way, you will have all the cards! These math task cards can be used for Game Show Math, this Treasure Hunt Math game, or just to make reviewing concepts quick and easy!

Even if you decide not to download my math task cards, you still have access to every problem that I use in my free Minimalist Math curriculum. You can always just copy the desired problems onto index cards!

There are a few advantages to this game compared to Game Show Math. The big one in my family is that the kids are not competing against each other. Rather, they are working cooperatively. I’ll be honest. Game Show Math has at times devolved into tears in my home when one child falls hopelessly behind his or her siblings (which is why I stretch the idea of fairness a bit to prevent that from happening). However, with Treasure Hunt Math, they are trying to locate the treasure TOGETHER.

The concept is simple. The kids are given their first clue inside an envelope, but to open the envelope, they have to solve the math problems clipped to the outside. Since I have four kids at four different grade levels, I clip 4 cards to each envelope, one for each child.

The second main advantage of Treasure Hunt Math is that, since they are on the same team, older kids help younger kids. This benefits not only the younger child, but the older one as well! (And me, the parent/teacher, since it’s less work for me!) Once I have given the okay that all the problems were answered correctly, they open the envelope to find a clue such as “look under the couch cushions” which leads them to their next clue packet! Rinse and repeat until, at the end, they locate the treasure. I use 8 clues so that each kid has a chance to open two envelopes.

For YEARS, we have always used a tiny orange dinosaur as the “treasure.” For this post, I decided to upgrade our standard dinosaur to an actual little treasure chest that belongs to one of my sons. However, anything will work for a treasure. My kids suggested coupons for ice cream or video game time. Those aren’t bad ideas, but since my kids seem satisfied to work for something pointless like a little orange dinosaur, I’m not planning to fix what isn’t broken.

Another advantage is that it does not take up a large space on your wall, like the pocket chart for Game School Math. I just keep all our Treasure Hunt supplies in a small shoebox that we keep using all summer. A final advantage is that you could play this with only one child and it would still be a lot of fun. When my oldest was young, he did these by himself, which honestly he probably prefered! Now that all my kids are older, I love that they can still play cooperatively without me having to set up a different hunt for each of them.

The primary DISadvantage of this fun method of math review over Game Show Math is that it takes a bit more work to set up! The Game Show Math board can be left up until all the answers are completed. I usually only update it once a week over the summer which gives us atleast 3 days to play. With Treasure Hunt Math, the game needs to be reset and the trail of clues needs to be hidden each day that you want to play.

Treasure Hunt Math Details

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School
Time Required: Using my task cards, this usually takes me about 15 minutes to set up a trail of 8 clues to a treasure. If you need to write out the questions, it will take longer. If you use my Patreon task cards, you will still have to download and print them the first time you play. I also laminated mine, which took even longer, but once that’s done, it makes it really easy to reuse them as often as needed! It takes my kids about 30 minutes to solve all the problems and follow a trail of 8 clues.
Difficulty: The first time you do it, it can be a little confusing to make your trail since you have to work backwards. Once you get the hang of it, it’s easy! The problems themselves can be as challenging as you want.
Cost: All of my task cards for Grades 1-7 can be obtained by becoming a $5 Patreon member. Or you can make your own task cards for free by writing on index cards!

Materials

• A treasure! (For the pictures in this post, we used an actual treasure chest that belongs to one of my kids, but you could really just hide any toy. Or you could take my kids’ suggestion and hide a coupon for something fun!)
• Blank index cards
• Envelopes
• A pen
• Binder clips (I used the mini kid)
• My Patreon Minimalist Math Task Cards (optional, could also write problems on index cards)

Instructions

1. The first step is to brainstorm places in your home that you can hide envelopes! Hide clues to these locations on index cards. At least some of the locations need to be spacious enough to hide your treasure. You could start by just thinking of 8 places to set up the first trail (or however many clues you want to use) or you could brainstorm at least 25 places to use the whole time you play. Over the years, my stack of hiding places has grown to about 40 places.
   
2. Next, you need to decide on your problems. Again, you could just concern yourself with problems for this one hunt, or you could gather your problems for the whole summer. If you are writing your own problems on index cards, my free Minimalist Math curriculum is a good place to start. If you want to save time, you can become a Patreon member to print out the math task cards that I use. There are 10 categories of problem for each grade level. I usually choose 8 cards from the same category for one game, such as 6th grade geometry, so that the child is focusing on one skill that increases in difficulty as the hunt goes on. It is entirely up to you!
   
3. Once you have your stack of 8 hiding places and 8 clues (or however many you decide), you can make your trail. I start by laying out envelopes in a line for that number of clues then randomly put a hiding place in each envelope. Don’t close the envelope yet, because you need to be able to read the clue. Put your question cards on top of the envelopes increasing in difficulty as you go so that the hardest question is at the end. I also like to set the treasure at the end of my line to visually see where they are going and what they are doing.
   
4. This next step is optional. IF you have more than one child and you want them to work together, add extra questions cards so that everyone has something to do at each step. Since I have four kids, each clue has 4 questions attached to it, one for 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 7th grade (we are reviewing the grades they just finished). Another advantage of this game over Game Show Math is that the kids can be working on entirely different skills.
   
5. Now it’s time to hide the clues! This can take a little thought, but the key is to WORK BACKWARDS! Start with your treasure. You will look at the clue right before it to know where to hide it. You need to make sure that this clue specifies a place that is big enough to hold the treasure. It not, swap it out!
   
   In this case, the last clue says to look in the piano bench, so I put our treasure in the piano bench.
   
6. Now, you work backwards. You can assemble the final clue packet by closing the envelope with the clue inside and clipping the question cards to the outside. I like to organize the questions youngest to oldest so they know whose is whose. To know where to put this last clue, you look at the clue before.
   
   In this case, the clue before says to look in the Magnatiles box, so that’s where I will stick this clue packet that I’ve just assembled. You can just see it poking out.
   
7. From here, you simply work backwards until you assemble your first clue packet. Since there is no card before to tell you where this first clue should go, I just hand this packet to my kids when it is time to play! They will work their way forwards solving the solving the questions, opening the envelope to read the clue, and following the trail until they reach the treasure.

I hope your family has as much fun with this as we do! Enjoy!

Click here for all the Minimalist Math curricula available for different grade levels.

Related Links

Math Activities for Kids
Minimalist Math Curriculum Methodology
Learning Activities for Kids

The post Treasure Hunt Math appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

I obviously didn’t come up with the idea of using a pocket chart to create a Jeopardy-style game. Teachers have been doing this forever! My spin was to apply the concept to my Minimalist Math curriculum which is already divided into 10 categories of progressing difficulty for each grade level. It is perfectly suited to this format!

I simply stick a card of increasing difficulty behind each number score. Since I have 4 kids at different grade levels, I actually stick FOUR cards of increasing difficulty behind the numbers corresponding to different grade levels, so that each child gets a card specific to them. My kids then take turns picking a category and number, as in, “Graphs, Charts, and Tables for 600!” In order to increase the amount of math that gets done, ALL of my kids do their question behind the number and have a chance to earn points, not just the person whose “turn” it is.

For the past several years, I have actually made task cards to go along with whatever math curriculum I am creating that year. It is my goal to one day share these cards on this site. I actually started doing that here. However, taking pictures and creating blog posts is time-consuming, especially when I currently have SEVENTY sets of 36 cards (10 for each grade level). This is why I’ve never shared this Game Show Math post before now. Each summer I make a new set of cards and at present, all 7 grade level takes up more than 2 shoeboxes. The idea of taking pictures and making blog posts for them all is overwhelming.

However, the other day I had a stroke of genius. I am currently paying off a lifetime membership to Teachery which allows me to create an unlimited number of courses or hubs. Also, I recently started a Patreon page. I decided to make a “Minimalist Math Library” that houses all my curriculum, answer keys, and task cards (without all the extra bells and whistles of blog posts) and I’m making it available to all those who sign up for my Patreon. By paying $5 to sign up as a Patreon supporter, you can go into any and all grade levels and download all 360 cards. If money is a hardship, you could then cancel Patreon once you have all the cards. Of course, I would love your continued support if you’re able.

If you don’t want to have to pay for my printable task cards, you could also just use my freely available curriculum or any curriculum you want to write the problems yourself on index cards. This would be time-consuming, but honestly, printing out and laminating all the task cards is time-consuming too! It takes me about 15-20 minutes to laminate just one of the 10 sets which amounts to about 3 hours per grade level of I do them all. (Quality movie-watching time. ) However, once I do it, I never have to do it again, and I have been using these cards for YEARS. Particularly if you have a lot of kids, it makes so much sense.

I hope your family enjoys this math review game as much as we do! (Also, I am currently working on a Minimalist Algebra curriculum. If you’re interested in an Algebra 1 Minimalist Math curriculum and the corresponding task cards, sign up for my newsletter to be notified when it’s ready! Hopefully August 2023. )

Game Show Math Details

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School
Time Required: we usually play 3 days a week for about 20 minutes over the summer, though the first time you set up the game, I would allow an hour or two to assemble your questions and set up the category and number labels. After the first time you play, it is easier to just restock the questions when needed!
Difficulty: Easy to set up, can be as challenging as you want for students to play
Cost: Free printable categories and labels. About $15-$20 for a hanging pocket chart. All of my task cards for Grades 1-7 can be obtained by becoming a $5 Patreon member. Or you can make your own task cards by writing on index cards! If you choose to laminate everything, that could add an extra $10-15 per grade level.

Materials

• Free printable categories and labels
• Pocket Chart (This one is 34″ x 44″ like the one I use. However, a narrower one would also work. The cards would just be closer together.)
• Laminating sheets
• My Patreon Minimalist Math Task Cards (optional, could also write problems on index cards)

Supplies

• laminator
• scissors

Instructions – Setting Up

1. First, download and print pages 2-16 of the free printable categories and labels document. I recommend laminating them for durability.
   
2. If you haven’t already, hang up your pocket chart.
3. Decide which categories of questions you want to include in your game and place them along the top row. Place the numbers underneath as shown.
   
4. The next step is to decide on which questions to use! The easiest way to do this is to get my printable task cards that are included in my $5 Patreon membership. However, you could also take my free Minimalist Math curriculum and copy some problems onto index cards. Each problem number is a different category of question. For example, on all 7 grade levels, problem 1 is the category Understanding Numbers and covers foundational math knowledge and skills.
5. Choose 9 problems from each of the 4 different categories to include in the first iteration of your game. At the beginning of the summer, I always start by choosing questions 11 through 19 from my task cards (or curriculum). This way, if the questions are too hard, the next day I can go back and choose easier (lower number) questions. Starting in the middle also makes it more likely we reach the end of the cards by the end of summer.
   
6. Place the question cards behind the numbers on your board. If you have more than one child, you may want to place multiple question cards behind each number so each child has an appropriate question. This is what I do with my own kids. This year I am pulling the same card number from 4 different grade levels (1, 3, 5, and 7). That way, if someone chooses “Calculations for 400” each of my kids will have an age-appropriate problem to work on and try to score points.
   
   

Instructions – Playing the Game

1. In our family, the youngest goes first, then we play youngest to oldest.
2. On each person’s turn, the player will choose a category and a number. The numbers correspond to the maximum number of points that a player can earn.
   
3. Once the player has chosen the category and number, I (the parent/teacher), pull out all the cards in that slot. I then read the question on each card aloud and hand it to the appropriate player. I particularly like reading the younger kid questions aloud, because a) my younger kids are not strong readers, so it helps them to be successful and b) I feel like it is useful for my older kids to hear what my younger kids are doing just to jog their memories and get them thinking, “Oh, that’s easy, I can do that.”
   
4. Once I pass out all the cards, I flip around the number so that we know that slot has already been used.
   
5. The children each work on the question on their own. Some do it directly on the card with a whiteboard marker. Some use their own little whiteboard. (These are the ones we have.) Some do it on paper. If they don’t need any help and get the correct answer, they earn full credit. If they get the wrong answer and want to try again, I deduct 50 points. If they need a hint, I deduct 50 points per hint. (The umm…helpfulness, shall we say… of the single hint depends on how far ahead or behind that particular player is in the game. I like to keep things close. ) Basically, it is a 50-point loss for every intervention with a minimum of half credit. Even if I end up needing to do every single step, they still get half credit if they follow along until they understand.
   
6. We keep score on our whiteboard, but you could keep score on paper if that’s easier. My kids each made up aliases since I wanted to take a picture. These are not their real names.
   
7. Once the kids have completed the cards, I do one of two things with them. If I feel like they don’t need to see that question again this summer (which is the majority of them), I put them in a messy, used stack that I sort at the end of the summer when I put the cards away. I love seeing this stack grow over the weeks. If I feel they would really benefit from doing that exact problem again in the following days, then I will put it back on the board in the same slot it was originally in. (Tip: Don’t forget to erase the whiteboard marker from the cards right away, because after a few weeks, it will be hard to get off!)
   
8. We usually only get through about 6 to 8 questions in a day, so I keep the same board up for a few days or sometimes the whole week. Once there are not many questions left or the whole lower half of the board has been completed, then I will shift any incompleted questions up on the board and then add new harder questions to the bottom!

That’s basically it! If you have any questions, feel free to let me know!

Click here for all the Minimalist Math curricula available for different grade levels.

Related Links

Math Activities for Kids
Minimalist Math Curriculum Methodology
Learning Activities for Kids

The post Game Show Math appeared first on ResearchParent.com.