Math Games Tool: 10 Frame

What is a 10 Frame?10 frame is simply a rectangle, 5 units long and 2 units wide, divided evenly into squares, in a five by two arrangement. Your child can use this tool with and without counters to represent numbers.

How do you use it?
Counters can be placed or arranged in 2 ways. Counters should be placed starting at one end, either placed vertically down one side first and then down the other, or placed horizontally along a short, building up pairs as the number increases.

These two arrangements for counters will easily show if numbers are even or odd, how much more than 5 a number 6-10 is, and showing how much less than 10 a number is. Do not "scatter" counters randomly in the squares, the benefits come from grouping numbers and seeing groups without counting each counter in the group.

When a child can look at a group of numbers and identify how may numbers are in the group with out counting they are “subtizing”...a fancy word but, important to developing numbers sense. Adults do this subconsciously every day, when a dice lands on 6 you know it is 6 without counting. By using the 10 Frame tool your child will become so familiar with arrangements of the counters on the ten frame . They will also be able to recognize the number of empty spaces on the frame.

For example, if your child builds the number 8 (2 rows of 4) a child can immediately see:

8 is two less than 10

8 is over half of 10

8 is double 4

8 is 3 more than 5

Further your child's learning by using "Two" Ten Frames

By adding another ten frame students can see the numbers between 10 and 20, giving excellent exposure to teen numbers. Put the two ten frames together so that they are next to each other- long edges are vertical- and fill the left-hand frame first, so that when writing the number represented, the student can see that the "1" lines up with the group of ten, and the extra ones line up with the corresponding digit.

The math games you can play with a 10 Frame are endless.Get creative..have your child come up with their own math games!

Math Games Tools: Get your FREE 10 Frame

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