I'm a big believer in getting kids outside to learn! It's amazing how just changing the learning environment can increase your student engagement. This outdoor musical dominoes math game is a fun twist on musical chairs and incorporates three important m's: music, movement, and math! Be sure to grab the free printable here for addition and multiplication practice, so you can play this with both younger and older students!
To play this game you will need to use the Giant Backyard Dominoes and place them out into a circle outside. If you have a grassy area at your school you can do it there, but it will also work on the playground too. You will put down one Giant Backyard Domino for every student in your class.
You will want a way to play music outside. An easy way to do this is just to use a bluetooth speaker and your phone or tablet to play music during the game.
You are going to play this game just like musical chairs, except that no one gets out for this game. Every student will need a clipboard, pencil, and recording sheet. Download the recording sheet for free here. To begin playing, start the music and have your students walk around the dominoes in a circle. When the music stops they will quickly find a domino that they haven't been to yet. They will draw the domino they stopped at on their addition dominos recording sheet and then write the corresponding addition sentence. Having them draw the dots onto their domino on the paper will allow you to assess if they understand how to add the two numbers together.
Continue playing for several rounds or until every child has stopped at 8 different dominoes.
If you'd like to play this game with older students you can use the multiplication musical dominoes recording sheet. When the music stops students will use the two numbers on their domino as the two factors in their multiplication sentence. They will write down the sentence, and also draw a picture and write the repeated addition sentence. By having students draw the picture and repeated addition this allows you to assess their understanding of multiplication.
This outdoor musical dominoes math game is a fun way to get your students moving outside while practicing their math skills! If you're looking for more ways to engage your learners outside when the weather is nice, here are 5 additional ways you can take learning outside!
