Learning Activities for Kids

I try to be diligent in signing my daughters’ school planners every day. I don’t want to miss anything I need to know.

My girls come home from school, I open their backpacks, and I grab their planners. My girls don’t have a lot of homework, so there’s often not a lot to see. But, there are two sentences that show up every day.

“Read for 30 minutes.” and

“Practice math facts.”

Do you see that too?

The set of math facts changes quite often, but there is always one set we need to work on. Right now, it’s our doubles math facts. Thank goodness for this domino doubles game.

My 2nd grader is doing quite well with her doubles addition facts. But, we want to keep working on them so she knows them without hesitation.

She brought home flash cards to practice with, but I didn’t really want to use those. I don’t want to make math boring.

I created this simple domino doubles math game that she could use to practice these facts. It’s hands-on, fun, and so easy to set up.

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Set up your Domino Doubles game

I’d seen many similar versions of domino math on Pinterest and at my daughters’ school, but I’ve created this version to specifically target the doubles addition facts.

You just need to print the game board on a piece of card stock and find all the doubles from your set of dominoes.

I’ve uploaded the game board I created, so it’s easy for you to set up this game. Please click here to print the game board. I printed on card stock for durability, but plain printer paper would work as well.

How to play your Domino Doubles game

To play the game, turn all your dominoes upside down. Have your child choose one and flip it over.

They need to count only one side of the domino, such as 5. Then, they need to figure out the double addition fact, 5+5=10.

Finally, put the domino on the correct spot on the board. This game is self-correcting. They can simply count all the dots to see if they have their domino on the right spot.

Game play is very easy, but it’s more hands-on and definitely more fun than flash cards.

If you don’t have any dominoes, don’t worry, you can still play the game. Just cut 10 rectangles from paper and create paper versions of the dominoes you need.

You can also find printable dominoes by Googling “printable dominoes.” Either way would work just as good as regular dominoes.

I breathe a sigh of relief as I sign off on my daughter’s planner every day.

“Practice math facts.”

Yep. We’ve got it.

Click here for the doubles game board download.

Note: First published on September 17, 2014. Updated and republished September 9, 2018.

More math activities you’ll love

Math Fact Sticks

Plus 1 Minus 1: An Easy Math Card Game

Domino Addition

Car Parking Math Game – Count by 5’s at Inspiration Laboratories

Do more activities with your family

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

Number lines. They show up a lot in your kid’s homework, don’t they?

Earlier, I talked about what their purpose is and why your kids are using them so much.

Now, we’re going to have a little fun with the number line by solving a number line secret code.

This is a great way to get a little extra math practice at home. You’re kids will love it and if they’re anything like mine, they’ll want to do this over and over. After all, what kid doesn’t like a secret code?

This project takes a bit more prep than a lot of my other activities, but the results are worth it.

Even the kid who moans and groans over math will jump at the chance to crack the code.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Create your number line secret code

First, you want to figure out a message. You can write a little note to your child, find a quote, or even a joke.

Since we love the live-action Cinderella movie, I chose a quote from the movie for my oldest (2nd grade) and wrote a short note for my youngest (kindergarten).

I wrote the quote on a sheet of paper and then worked at assigning a number between 1 and 20 for each letter.

If you have a letter that occurs more than once, each occurrence will be the same letter. For instance, in the example above, “E” is always 4.

Next, you’ll need a number line. You can find a number line to download and print in this post.

Write your letter underneath the number it represents.

If you find that you have leftover numbers that don’t have a letter, just use letters that aren’t in your message to fill in the blanks.

Finally, it’s time to make the code. Take a separate sheet of paper and draw a space for each letter in your message. Make the spaces long enough to write a math problem underneath.

Using your quote with the numbers assigned, make a math problem for each letter.

For my kindergartner, I stuck with simple addition problems. She’s just starting to learn how to use a number line. For my 2nd grader, I used both addition and subtraction problems. Some problems were more difficult and others were quite easy.

It’s time to solve the math secret code

Once the girls were home and my oldest had her homework finished, I showed them their secret messages. They were so eager to get to work!

My kindergartner needed a manipulative to move along her number line to find the answer. We found that LEGO Batman was perfect for the job! She worked hard at figuring out her answers and was so proud when she had cracked the code.

My second grader didn’t need much help from the number line, since she was able to do many of the problems in her head. But, every once in awhile a problem stumped her.

The girls had so much fun solving their number line secret code message. They even asked for a second set for the next afternoon. Luckily, I was able to reuse their number lines and make a new secret code based off of it.

This fun after school number line secret code activity helped with addition and subtraction, the number line, and even writing practice. It takes a little extra work to set up, but it’s definitely worth the trouble.

You may also like one of these math games:

Driveway Hundred Chart

Hundred Chart Fill-In-The-Blank Puzzles

Plus 1 Minus 1: An Easy Math Card Game

Fun Number Line Activities for Kids

Cool Secret Codes for Kids at Picklebums

Note: This post was first published, March 30, 2015. It was newly updated on August 10, 2018.

My must-have math resources

I love games for practicing math at home. In addition to this fun secret code math game, here are some great games that you can purchase and keep on hand for learning at home.

Commit to do more activities with your kids!

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.