Some students grasp the idea of place value quickly, easily, naturally.  Others, however, seem to really struggle with this aspect of number.

This game is one I developed many years ago for my students and while it is very simple, it always WORKS!

You will need a dice, a generous supply of pop sticks and some elastic bands.

Students roll the dice and then put that number of pop sticks into the units column.  They do that again, each time checking that there are still less than 10 pop sticks in the units column.  As soon as there is more than 10, they bundle 10 pop sticks together with an elastic band, and put it into the tens column, leaving any left overs in the units column.  Then roll the dice again and keep going!

So, if you rolled a 5, then a 3, then a 6 you would now have 14 pop sticks in the units column.  More than 10, so bundle 10 and move them to the tens column, leaving 4 pop sticks in the units column.  Roll again, get a 6, now you have 10 in the units column again, so bundle another 10 and put them into the tens column.  You’ll have 2 bundles in the tens column (ie 20) and nothing in the units column.  Roll again…and so on.

Students can work independently or in pairs and extending students can use 2 dice.

We use Hundreds Charts as part of our daily counting routine to develop familiarity, so these have been included as a reference for your students.