Climb the Apple Tree
- play in pairs
- each player has a different color dice (I used foam jumbo dice from KMart, they're great)
- let one student start building the ladder to climb the apple tree by placing their dice down to reveal a number of their choice (in the photo below the first player chose 2)
- the other player chooses a number and adds it to the ladder, both students find the new total (now 2+5=7)
- play returns to the first player who again selects a number and the new total is calculated (2+5+4=11)
- play continues until a player can reach an exact 20 - they may be declared the winner
- play as many times as possible to build fluency and allow for strategies to be developed and internalized
The apple tree painting featured here is optional but may be a nice engagement tool for your learners.
You can find the steps for an apple tree drawing in the Coloring Club.
Fast Tower
- play again with individual students, set a timer and have them build a tower of 20 as fast as they can
Visualization
- tell a math story and ask your students to picture it in their mind, calculating the apples on the tree as they listen: Today in the park I saw an apple tree. It was enormous and quite leafy. I counted the red apples on the tree, there were 5. There were 3 apples on the ground and 4 in a basket someone had picked. How many apples did I see?
Action Rhyme
- learn a fun counting action rhyme
Find more ideas, games and resources for addition on our website page!