Years ago I played a game with some other teachers called “I Have, Who Has?” The gist of it is to mentally follow along as each person in the room described an algebraic expression, and you had to see if the card you were holding was the one they were describing.
When I wanted to find a fun way for my students to practice arithmetic operations that game was still in the back of my head. And thus “Follow the Number” was born!
I’m sure this game must exist in some other form by some other name. Either way, the obstacle is that you are either having to reinvent a series of cards or recycle the same ones. So why not have a computer generate it for you?
Create Your Own “Follow the Number”!
That’s exactly what I did. Now it’s our Monday morning warmup game. You can try “Follow the Number” for yourself here. You’ll need to print 3 or 4 sheets for each class, and a paper cutter helps. I’m hoping someone at the 1st or 2nd grade level can try this and let me know how it goes (I’ve used it for 6th through 12th grades).