Hi friends! I have a quick post and freebie for you today! 🙂 You know how Halloween is my favorite holiday to celebrate in the classroom. WELL…decomposing numbers is probably my favorite math concept to teach. There are so many fun ways to teach it, and it is SO important for our little ones numerical understanding! 

We have played “How Many Am I Hiding” for several years in my room. Students play in pairs and 1 student hides some and shows some. Then the other student tries to solve how many are hidden. 

Today, we put a fun Halloween twist on it! 

First, I had them make caves out of construction paper. It was fun and challenged them to be problem solvers, but you could easily just give them a bowl or cup! 

Then, they cut out their bats. I chose to give my students 12, but you could play with any number. It would also be super easy to differentiate! Just make sure they stick with the same number for the whole game. 

Then your kiddos partner up. One partner shows some bats and hides the rest. Their partner has to solve how many bats are hiding in the cave. They can use mental math, facts, their fingers, manipulatives, etc. 

They recorded their thinking on a recording page for accountability and number sentence practice!