Free Printable Line Geometry Board Game

My 10-year-old son is a good at math. Probably better than his mom is. Geometry, however, has proven to be the one type of math that can give him a bit of a challenge.

I worked up a fun game to work on line geometry. It's similar to Candyland or Chutes & Ladders, but with a twist.

Assembly
Download a free 9-page PDF from Google Drive here. Print on heavyweight cardstock. Assemble the game board, trimming off any white excess on the paper's edge so it lines up properly. Trim the excess from the bottom of the game board as well.

Fold the pages with the arrow cards, open and add glue with a glue stick, press together and cut out. These cards will now be front-and-back. 

Cut out the spinner. Double over the paper so there are two plies of cardstock glued together and cut out the spinner's arrow. Use a tiny hole punch or craft knife to carefully cut holes in the spinner and arrow. Assemble with a brad.

Play
Grab small items to use as game pieces, one for each player. Place game pieces on the start. 

Place the arrow cards on the game board. The top of each card is either marked TOP, or is the darkest part of the ombre coloring.

Player 1 flicks the spinner and moves to the first occurrence of the line segment that the arrow is pointing to. 

If the back end of an arrow is at this space, the player may move their game piece to wherever the arrow is pointing. After this, their turn is over.

Player 2 takes a turn, and flicks the spinner. If the spinner lands on "TURN OVER ALL ARROW CARDS," then the arrow cards are flipped over horizontally (to keep the top of the cards at the top of each box). Player 2's turn is over.

Play continues in this way until a player spins the final type of line on the board first to win.

Flipping the arrow cards makes the game very spontaneous and can move players from the end of the board way back, almost to the beginning.

This game was loads of fun for my son and I and a great way to reinforce his line geometry vocabulary. Enjoy!

After School Linky (11-2)

Welcome to the party!

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Halloween.

Here are a few of the great ideas/activities shared at last week's party.

Fall Math Activities Using Corn Kernels at Gift of Curiosity.

Hatch Dinosaur Eggs With Science from Steam Powered Family.

Free Human Body Lapbook and Unit Study from Tina's Dynamic Homeschool.

 Monster Lab Science Fun for Kids at The Educators' Spin on It.

Sight Word Go Fish from The Jordan Project.

 Paper Plate Multiplication Wheel from School Time Snippets.

Creating Patterns with Skittles {free printable} at Math Geek Mama.

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Creative Family Fun

Mama Smiles

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

This Reading Mama

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, home school, or on the weekend!

When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up, you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board and feature an image on our After School Party in the upcoming weeks.

Unpoppable Balloon Experiment

What can you do with a basic party balloon and a bamboo skewer? Amaze your kids, that's what!

This science experiment takes just a few minutes but is sure to ignite kids' curiosity.

How to Do It
Blow your balloon up and tie it. Max out the balloon at medium size so the skewer will be long enough to fit through each side of the balloon.

With the pointy end of the skewer, drive it through the thick part of the balloon (i.e. the end at the bottom of the balloon opposite the tie). This will take a fair amount of force.

Once it penetrates the balloon's skin, push it through the balloon so it pierces the latex near where you've tied the balloon. 

Shocked it didn't pop?

Yeah, we were too!

WHOA! How'd it do that?
The rubber molecules in the balloon close up around the skewer when you puncture it in its thickest part, sealing around it. Our balloon did leak air, but never popped as we expected.

This experiment came from Design Squad. Check out this great video for further explanation.

After School Linky (10-26)

Welcome to the party!

We've whisked the kids away for a little fresh mountain air. In the meantime, check out these great activities and ideas from last week's link up.

 Monster Mumbles Phonics Game and Free Printable from A Little Pinch of Perfect.

 Bats in a Cave Sight Word Game at Creative Family Fun.

 Craft Stick Fairy Craft and Fairy Races from There's Just One Mommy.

 Halloween Safety 101 (Free Printable Tip Sheet) from Ask Doctor G.

Spooky Levitating Puppets - Halloween Science at Science Kiddo.

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Creative Family Fun

Mama Smiles

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

This Reading Mama

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, home school, or on the weekend!

When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up, you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board and feature an image on our After School Party in the upcoming weeks.

Earth's Layers & Atmosphere Card Game {free printable}

Since my son learned the earth's layers (check out our 3-D diagram), I thought it might also be fun to find a way to teach him the atmospheric layers. A rousing game of cards seemed like the perfect way to learn.

I designed a set of 1-10 playing cards plus wild cards, for us to play like Skip-Bo Junior.

DIY the Game!

Download a free 11-page PDF of the playing cards from Google Drive here. If you have trouble accessing the file, you can request permission within Google Drive or email me. Teachers: Use a personal email address when requesting access to my files. Most schools block emails from outside their domain, prohibiting me from granting you access.

Print on heavyweight cardstock and cut out. Print two copies of the WILD cards (on page 5). NOTE: This is a pretty ink-heavy printable; I recommend taking the PDF to a copy shop so as not to use up all your home printer's ink.

How to Win

The first player to play all of the cards from their stockpile is the winner.

How to Play

This is a two-person game. The dealer deals 10 cards facedown to each player; this is their stockpile. The top card is turned over (i.e. face-up) and placed on top of the rest of the cards. Next, the dealer deals three cards in three separate piles to each player face up next to the stockpile. The dealer does this with each turn. 

In the playing area between both players, four piles can be started. These four piles are played on by both players and must begin with a No. 1 card (the inner core) or a Wild card, played face up.

The youngest player looks at the three cards in their "hand" (those dealt face-up by the dealer on the table) as well as the one card on top of their stockpile to see if they can begin a new pile or add to an existing one. The player plays all the cards that they can, even those that may be revealed from under another card that was just played. For example, if there is a No. 2 (outer core) card face-up on one pile, a player can place the No. 3 (mantle) or Wild card on top of it from their hand, as well as any other cards they may have to play. 

If the card from the stockpile is played, the card underneath is turned over. It's the next player's turn when a player can no longer play any cards from their stockpile or hand. NOTE: The card on top of the stockpile may not be moved to the player's hand, even if all the cards in one pile of their hand have been played.

Each time it is a player's turn, three new cards are dealt on top of the existing hand from the last round of play. Once the new cards have been dealt, the player can take their turn.

When a pile has either been completed with the number cards 1-10 and/or a mix of wild cards, the pile is turned over and removed from the playing area, so a new pile can be formed in its place.

If the dealer runs out of cards and neither player has played all the cards from their stockpile, the completed piles can be reshuffled to continue play.

Like this game? Play our Medieval Kingdom version!