Someday your child will get their driver’s license and zoom out of the driveway while you hang on for dear life. Luckily, in Crazy 8s Race the kids get some thrills – and a lot of math! – with no spills.
In this game, kids drove cars around a racetrack by rolling dice. When they landed on multiples of 8, they got to zoom forward – and used factors to calculate their leaps.
Keep the fun going at home! These “path” board games become a lot more interesting if you tap the math that’s under the radar:
Candy Land
The colors fall in a repeating pattern of 6. When kids draw a color, ask them to figure out in their heads how many spaces they’ll go based on their current color.
Chutes & Ladders
Stretch kids’ skills by having them calculate the number they will land on rather than counting the spots one by one. Do the math!
Parcheesi
This game is the spirit animal of Crazy 8s Race! Multiple pieces have to enter the path and all must reach the finish line. Parcheesi’s safe spots are 5 and 7 spaces apart – see if kids can do their jumps of 20 in chunks instead of counting one by one!
Monopoly
The board’s sides are 10 spaces apart, with railroads at the halfway mark. Have kids find their landing spot without counting one by one, but instead eyeballing their position relative to the corners and RRs. There’s also lots of money changing hands. Make change – and better yet, have your kid serve as the banker. And for real strategy, have kids think out the benefit of the extra rent from a 3rd house vs. owning a utility.
