Are your kids collecting the Dreamworks Heroes Action Cards from Countdown? Here’s a little game that you could play with them to practise multiplication and division by 6.

Part 1: Get them to fish out all the cards with numbers that are multiples of 6, i.e. the numbers in the 6 “times table”. Next, turn these cards over and look at the die/dice patterns on the back. Do they notice anything interesting?

Part 2: With the cards that are left, take a card and show them the number on the front of the card. Ask them to divide that number by 6 and calculate the remainder. Then turn the card over and see if their answer matches the die pattern on the back of the card!

In playing this game, it would be great if children progressed from skip counting in 6s to jumping straight to the required multiple of 6. So if the card number was 20, a beginner might say “Six, twelve, eighteen…I need TWO more to make 20”, while a seasoned player might say “Six goes into 20 three times with TWO left over”.

Parents can try this at home, or teachers (who haven’t banned the cards!) can try this in the classroom. Have fun!

Dr Audrey Tan, Mathmo Consulting