I am a big fan of using holidays and other special events to help make learning even MORE fun. This roll a jack-o’-lantern game can be adapted so easily and it only takes a few minutes to throw together. I thought about making a printable for this but I really want to stress to parents that you don’t need these activities to be Pinterest-perfect to be useful or fun for your kids so grab a sharpie and do it by hand. Trust me my kids LOVED this and I was surprised by how well my 4-year-old participated even though place value is definitely not something she has been exposed to before. That is the power of fun.
What You Will Need
- some black construction paper
- two sheets of orange construction paper
- dice – use different colors if possible
- double stick tape
- plain sheet of paper
How to Set it Up
- Start by cutting out a pumpkin for each player. Tape it to a black sheet of construction paper. This helps keep everything in place.
- Cut out eyes, a nose, and a mouth for each player.
- Write out the rules. I wrote simple rules that certain numbers or more or less would result in getting a piece of the jack-o’-lanterns face. I also included one that would require players to remove a face piece and another that would give them all pieces and instantly win the game. I mistakenly wrote 75 for one but switched it to 35 realizing quickly that 66 if the highest number we could roll. Oops.
- Remember that the rules can be whatever you make it. Target it to your children. I wanted my son to really read each rule every time he rolled because we are working on paying attention to detail. If your child needs to work on odd or even numbers you could make a rule such as “Roll an even number more than 10 and get an eye!”
- Make sure the players know that one die represents tens and the other ones.
How to Play the Game
- Roll the dice and check the list to see what you need to add. It was neck and neck for my kids. They kept rolling 66… but soon my little 4 year old surged ahead and won the game!
How To Adapt For Younger Players
- Use only one dice and make the rules simpler. Our rules were roll one of two numbers for each piece. This will make the game much faster which is better for younger children as well.