Place Value Game

I've often noticed how many kids have a hard time with place value- understanding that a 1 in the 10's column is actually 10. We've used a lot of Math their Way games in our homeschool- one of the favorites is called Zurkle in the Math their way newsletter- (it's on page 8 as you scroll down) It's explained better in the Math their way book. (we found a copy on Paperback Swap) In the game you move cubes from the white "ones" side to the blue "10's" side, and regroup them as needed. The beauty of this game is that you play it with all different bases- not just 10's- so it's easy to get familiar with the concept of regrouping. It's a simple game- ring the bell, and add cubes to the white side then when there's the correct number- you regroup them and move them to the blue side. The catch is that with different bases- there are different numbers to regroup at- and not just 10. We've come up with our own silly words for each number- Roo decided to call 4- Bajonko So first we practice counting- 1, 2, 3, Bajonko. We also have silly words for all the numbers 3-9 and play with the other numbers too. I wrote the silly words down on the back of our blue/wite paper, so we don't forget the names we choose. Anyhow- Roo made a short movie to show how we play the Bajonko game.