Description
How it works
Each player places ten counters anywhere on their board, stacking them on whichever numbers they fancy. Then everyone takes turns rolling two dice and finding the difference — roll a difference of 2 and you remove one counter from your 2 stack, or nothing if you have none there. First to clear all their counters wins. That opening placement is the hook: children quickly notice some differences come up far more than others, which is a genuine probability insight arrived at honestly.
What you’ll need
- The printable Subtraction Stacks board, in three ranges
- Ten counters per player
- Two dice
Skills practiced
Subtraction facts, differences within 5, and informal reasoning about likelihood.
Grade level
1st through 4th grade. Boards extending to 9 and 11 are included for use with 10- and 12-sided dice.
Instant PDF download. Game instructions and printable boards adapted from the ideas in Math Fact Fluency by Jennifer Bay-Williams and Gina Kling (ASCD / NCTM, 2019).
