Place Value

I decided to share a couple of place value games that I have come up with and utilized in my classroom:

Place Value Battleship

My kids LOVE Battleship so I decided to use that to my benefit.  Here is how the game works:
The kids partner up and each student receives a "game mat" and 2 sets of number 1-9 (that are cut apart).  They separate their game mats with a folder and then make up any 7 digit number they want using 1 set of the 1-9 numbers with out telling the other player. They place the cards on the game mat in the "my number" spot.  They then take turns guessing the individual digits of their partner's number.  For example Johnny might say, "is there a 3 in your hundreds place" at which point Suzie looks at her hundreds place and sees she has a 5 there. So she would respond with "higher" indicating to Johnny that his next guess for her hundred's place should be higher than 3.  If Johnny makes a correct guess, Suzie will respond with "hit" at which point Johnny uses his second set of numbers and places the correct number in the correct place under the "My Partner's Number" place on the game mat. Meanwhile Suzie flips over the number that he "hit" indicating it was "sunk".  Once one of the players feels they have correctly guessed each individual digit they then have to read the number back to the person in order to officially win the game.

Human Place Value Chart

For this one my goal was to get my kids use to and aware of the different place value positions especially with decimals.  Before class  I made a set of numbers 0-9, laminated them, and attached a string from end to end. I then taped off a place value chart on my floor that included the thousandths place through to the hundreds place, and placed a four square ball in the middle to represent the decimal point.  I then gave 10 of my kids individual numbers they could wear around their neck.  I gave the remaining students individual white boards and dry erase markers to follow along as we create the number.  I had 20 different 3-6 digit numbers placed on index cards that we used for each round.  I would pick one of my "white board" kids to read off the individual digits in any order (there's a 1  in the tenths place, there's a 9  in the hundreds place, and so on ) so that the kids wearing numbers could place themselves in the appropriate slot.  Once everyone is placed I have a different white board kid, read the number correctly to everyone.  I then finish the round with asking the white board kids to give me the value of certain digits. If I felt they understood and comprehend how to find value, I let them switch with someone in the place value chart, if not, then they stay for another round or two.
*Note - I am fortunate enough to only have 16 kids in each of math classes this year, so one set of numbers worked for me. If you have a rather large class you may want to split them into two groups with two place value charts.

Hope you enjoy the games! Let me know if you need any further explanation or if you would like a copy of the place value battleship, I will be happy to send it to you!

-Amy