Welcome to the Give-a-Number Game!

This page will walk you and your child through the Give-a-Number Game, a research-based method for revealing what numbers a child understands.

After completing the game, you will receive personalized information about your child's current stage of number learning along with evidence-based suggestions for how to support their learning.

The game will take about 5-10 minutes to play with your child.

---

You will need:

• A child between the ages of 2 and 5
• A phone, tablet, or computer with internet access to follow along with these instructions
• About 10-15 small toys of a similar type (e.g., plastic fish, blocks)
• A plate or other shallow container that your child can place the toys into

Example materials:

Next

Give-A-Number Game

This project is run through the Conceptual Development Lab at foundry10, an education research organization based in Seattle. Our aim is to give parents insight into how their children are thinking about numbers, which is part of our broader effort to understand and support children's early math learning. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the lab's Principal Investigator, Dominic Gibson ([email protected]).

Confidentiality: No sensitive or identifying information regarding individual children will be stored. Anonymized data collected through this game will be accessible to foundry10 researchers and may be shared with the wider research community.

Parent's Name: Parent's Email Address:

I agree to the Terms of Use

Child Date of Birth: Child ID/Initials: Next

Game Overview

The game will prompt you to ask your child for varying numbers of objects and to type in your child's responses. When the game has enough information to make a guess about your child's current stage of number learning, it will end automatically and you will be provided with information about your child's number learning.

Setup:

You will begin by presenting your child with a group of 10-15 objects and a shallow container. We use plastic fish and a blue plate that we pretend is a "pond where the fish like to go swimming," but you can use whatever you have.

Gameplay Preview:

1

On each turn, the game will prompt you to ask your child to put a certain number of items on a plate. For example:

Say: "Can you put 2 on the plate? Put 2 on the plate, and tell me when you’re all done."

This child put put 1 fish on the plate and said they were done.

2

After they put objects on the plate and say they are done, you will prompt them to check to make sure:

Say: "Is that 2? Can you count and make sure? Is that 2?"

After checking, this child changed the amount to 3 fish.

3

Enter the amount(s) they gave and click "Submit".

4

Repeat steps 1-3 for the next number.

The game will prompt you to ask your child for a different number of items on the next turn, asking for more or fewer items in order to zero in on your child's current level of number understanding.

Tips

• Feel free to make it silly and fun. When we use the plastic fish and "pond" we introduce the game by saying "the fish have to take turns so listen closely to the number I ask for". At the end of each turn, we shake the fish on the plate to make them "swim around", before making them all "jump out" and starting the next turn.


• When you ask your child to check their intial answer, children often just say "yes" instead of counting. This is perfectly fine. Just enter their initial response and go on to the next turn.


• If your child does think they made a mistake after checking/counting, they may change their answer on their own or you may need to remove the objects from the plate and repeat the original question ("Can you put TWO on the plate?").

Have fun!

Start Game

Give-A-Number Game

Initial Amount Given: Final Amount Given (If child gave a different amount after checking/counting): Submit

How high can they count?

Ask the child, "Can you count as high as you can? Let's start counting with one..."

If they stop, ask, "Do you know what comes next?" Do this only once.

When they cannot continue counting, enter the highest number they reached.

Submit

Last question!

Please click "yes" if the responses you entered are the responses of a real 2 to 5 year old child. Otherwise (e.g., if you are just testing the game) please click "no".

(we'll send the personalized information based on your responses either way)

No Yes