Touch or click to drop a number segment on the section below. Try to keep the entire segment on the stack to continue the game. Once you lose your number segment, the game is over. Your score is based on the stacks you place. Each stack represents the next value in the place value sequence. You’ll see some really large numbers and hopefully get a better understanding of the loop behind the ordinal number system.
Teaching Information
Skills Practiced
Place value, digit values, ones/tens/hundreds, expanded form, reading large numbers, number building, visual estimation, hand-eye coordination, and understanding how each digit changes the total value.
Grade Level Range
2nd Grade – 5th Grade
Great for upper 1st grade enrichment or 6th grade review with larger numbers.
Game Description
In Place Value Stacker, players drop moving rows of blocks onto a stack. The number of blocks that land successfully becomes the next digit in the player’s score. The first placement fills the ones place, the next fills the tens place, then hundreds, thousands, and beyond. Players try to keep all 9 blocks each round to build the largest possible number while seeing the number shown in standard form, expanded form, and word form.
Pre Skills:
Students should be able to count objects up to 9, understand that numbers are made of digits, recognize ones/tens/hundreds, and have some experience reading or building numbers with place value blocks.
What to do next?
Have students write their final score in expanded form and word form. Then ask them to identify the value of specific digits, compare their score with a partner’s score, or explain which place value made the biggest difference in their total.
