Skittles

Required materials

• a set of 10 skittles (You can make these using empty plastic bottles with a little sand or water in them to help them balance.)
• two balls

See Materials that come with this resource to download:

• Skittles activity (.pdf)

What to do

Set up skittles in a 4, 3, 2, 1 triangular array. You can draw circles on the ground (if outside) or place these on a piece of material or sheet of plastic with circles drawn on (if inside), to help children place these correctly.

The child rolls the ball. Talk about how many skittles have fallen, for example if three skittles are down:

• How many skittles are standing? 7
• How many skittles have fallen? 3
• We can say 7 and 3 is 10, or 10 take away 3 is 7

It is important to focus on both addition and subtraction facts to help your child understand the link between these.

Help your child to write the addition and subtraction facts on a piece of paper:

• 7 + 3 = 10
• 10 - 3 + 7

Set up the skittles again and repeat.

What to expect your child to do

Know the answer to addition facts to 10 without having to calculate:

0 + 10 = 10 1 + 9 = 10 2 + 8 = 10 3 + 7 = 10 4 + 6 = 10 5 + 5 = 10

10 + 0 = 10 9 + 1 = 10 8 + 2 = 10 7 + 3 = 10 6 + 4 = 10

Know the answer to subtraction facts of 10 without having to calculate:

10 − 1 = 9 10 − 2 = 8 10 − 3 = 7 10 − 4 = 6 10 − 5 = 5 10 − 0 = 10

10 − 9 = 1 10 − 8 = 2 10 − 7 = 3 10 − 6 = 4 10 − 10 = 0

He kupu Māori

skittle	pātuki
addition facts	meka tāpiritanga
subtraction facts	meka tangohanga

He whakawhitinga kōrero

• Whakatūria ngā pātuki. (Stand the skittles.)
• E hia ngā pātuki? (How many skilttles are there?)
• Pīrorihia te pōro. (Roll the ball.)
• E hia ngā pātuki i hinga? E hia e tū tonu ana? (How many skittles fell? How many are still standing?)
• Tekau ngā pātuki e tū ana i te tīmatanga. E waru i hinga. E rua e toe ana. He aha te tangohanga? (10 skittles standing at the beginning. 8 fell. 2 are left. What is the subtraction?) 10 – 8 = 2
• E waru ngā pātuki i hinga. E rua e tū tonu ana. Tekau ngā pātuki katoa. He aha te tāpiritanga? (8 skittles fell. 2 are left standing. 10 skittles altogether. What is the addition?) 8 + 2 = 10
• Tuhia te tāpiritanga me te tangohanga ki te pepa. (Write down the addition and subtraction on the paper.)