I am really keen to make maths fun for my son. So far we have enjoyed a great array of iphone apps, activity games, songs and crafts.  Last year we played a great maths board game at a friend’s house and ever since I meant to get it but never got round to buying it. So I decided to take some of the core ideas from that game and make our own homemade version. Ten Green Bottles by Orchard Toys is a board game that recalls the familiar children song Ten green bottles sitting on the wall and like the song it encourages counting and adds its very own recycling twist.  Remaining true to our ethos of making things with materials that would otherwise end up in the recycle bin, we made a maths game about recycling.  I have adapted the original version to suit my son’s maths level so instead of simply counting the dots on the cards players need to solve basic calculations in the form of sums and subtractions.  

Materials: old magazines, thick scrap paper, green paper, black and green markers, and a cardboard box.

First we cut 40 bottle shapes out of old magazines, and then we made the recycle bin with a cardboard box which we covered with green paper. Finally I made the cards with thick scrap paper by drawing the sums and subtractions. Instead of simply writing the numbers I actually drew the bottles so a card showing 3+2 has 3 bottles + 2 bottles.

To play the game you need a minimum of two players and each has 10 bottles with every bottle corresponding to a number 1 to 10. The aim of the game is to recycle all the bottles and the player to do so first is the winner. To recycle the bottles players need to calculate the sum or subtraction according to which card they draw, for example a card with 3+5=8 means that the player who lpicked it can recycle his/her number 8 bottle.

You can number the bottles or use a slot with numbers to position the bottles.

Happily shared with the Play Academy’s carnival of Maths Play.