Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Domino Parking Lot

Students use a set of regular dominoes and a domino parking mat. Each student selects a domino, counts the total number of dots (pips) and places the domino in that parking spot. Dominoes with the same number of dots may be stacked on top of each other in the parking spot, if necessary. 

Center Activity: Teachers may use craft foam and a sharpie marker to create the parking lot mat or download the Domino Parking Lot game mat.  Copy the game mat on card stock, and laminate the mat for student use or insert the game mat in a sheet protector. Provide sets of dominoes for small groups of students to sort. 

 Challenge: As a variation of the game, select target sums and give students a point for each domino they find to park in those spaces. This motivates students to search for those particular  combinations and heightens interest in finding those dominoes to win the most points for the group. Have one member of the group use a Domino Parking Lot Recording Sheet write in the day's winning numbers, then draw in the dots of the dominoes the group finds for those numbers.


2 comments:

  1. Now that's neat! Thanks for sharing. Been looking for as many powerful center ideas and this is certainly one.

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  2. Some teachers enlarge the mat and laminate it for classroom use. This gives young students more room to place dominoes in the parking lot. Or just use a sharpie to draw lines on large foam mats to create the domino parking lots. Lots of options...lots of fun!!

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