Penguins on Ice - math game

The Penguins on Ice Math Set is an extremely useful play set for children as it improves the skills of counting, modeling, sorting and performing various mathematical operations.

The set contains plastic penguins colored in 10 different colors, as well as 10 plastic ice bars on which the animals can be placed. Each bar can accommodate a maximum of 10 penguins, and the ice bars themselves can be connected in two ways: horizontally, forming a line of 100 penguins, or vertically, thus forming an even larger grid.

The manual included in the set contains extremely useful information on how to play with the set pieces. But apart from that, kids can also use their imagination and come up with their own games with the penguins and ice bars.

The game is useful because, through a tactile and visual learning style, it helps children learn basic concepts of color recognition, matching and recognizing similarities and differences. It also helps develop fine motor skills, coordination, while strengthening fingers and hands.

All parts are created from completely safe and compliant materials.

POSSIBLE GAMES WITH SETS

• Play the game "What's missing?". Place five different colored penguins on an ice bar. Have the children carefully study the penguins, then close their eyes while you remove one penguin. Ask the children to open their eyes and guess which color penguin is missing. Repeat this activity. You can also switch roles so that you guess which penguin is missing.
• Sort the penguins into color sets. For younger children, limit the number and color of penguins to be sorted. Gradually increase the number and colors as the child becomes more confident.
• To develop basic counting skills, name a number and have the children place that number of penguins on an ice bar. Ask them to check and compare with the others. Remember to reinforce the one-to-one correspondence when counting (ie saying each number while counting and touching the penguin).
• Penguins and ice bars can help children solve story problems and develop numeracy skills. Tell a story, for example: "Five penguins were sitting on an ice bar. Four more penguins came up and sat on the ice bar. How many penguins are there in total on the ice bar?" You can also create stories involving subtraction.
• To start building a strong sense of appreciation, ask children how many penguins they think they can hold in one hand. Record the answers, then see how many penguins each child can actually hold. Compare the numbers. Use key math words like "more" and "less".
• Develop higher level number skills and thinking skills by connecting all the popsicle sticks together to create a grid of 100. Let the children explore the many ways to place 100 penguins on this grid. Count the penguins all the way to 100!
• "Ten" - ask the children to place any combination of 10 penguins on one ice tile. Have the children create sentences about the numbers to match them. For example: 3 blue penguins + 4 yellow penguins + 3 red penguins = 10 penguins.
• Use a number die (not included) and the penguins to play Penguin Stack. Place a stack of 50 penguins in the center of the play area. Two players take turns rolling a number and taking the corresponding number of penguins from the pile. The winner is the player with the most penguins after all the penguins have been taken from the center pile.