About this game

The heavier one on the balance

The heavier one on the balance: a free Kindergarten math game for ages 5-6. Each round draws 5 questions; instructions are read aloud and every answer is checked and explained.

How it plays and why it helps

Put a toy car in one hand and a sock in the other, and children feel which is heavier before they can say why. The heavier one on the balance moves that feeling onto a scale. A picture shows two things, such as a strawberry and a ball, on a balance with one side down. Your child taps the heavier one from four names. In this Kindergarten game the instruction is read aloud, five scales make a round, and every answer is checked and explained: the pan that goes down holds the heavier one.

A balance compares two weights directly, with no numbers at all. The lower pan wins. Reading the tilt, rather than guessing from size or from what an object is, is the first step toward measuring weight.

Up often means more to a young child, so the object in the raised pan can look like the winner. The game offers it every time, the strawberry beside the ball. Point at the low pan and ask, "Which side is pulled down?" Then name the reading: "You looked at which way it tipped."

Aligned with

  • K.MD.A.1 Describe measurable attributes of objects, such as length or weight. Describe several measurable attributes of a single object.
  • K.MD.A.2 Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common, to see which object has "more of"/"less of" the attribute, and describe the difference. For example, directly compare the heights of two children and describe one child as taller/shorter.

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