We had so much fun with this Fall Topple Math Tree Game.  Playing creative games while practicing math skills makes learning fun.  My kids were laughing and giggling as we added, counted, and tried to keep the tree from toppling over.

Kids can practice math skills at different levels with this Fall activity, making it the perfect game for families with kids of multiple ages and math abilities.  Make a pipe cleaner tree and play a game of math topple this Fall!

To make the pipe cleaner tree, you’ll need just a few materials:

• Brown pipe cleaners
• One lollipop stick or craft stick
• Paper clips (in Fall leaf colors: red, yellow, green, orange.  You will want one color for each player.)
• Tape
• A pair of dice

Create the Fall tree by twisting the pipe cleaners together around the craft stick/lollipop stick.  The craft stick is important to provide support to the pipe cleaner tree.  Separate one ends of the pipe cleaners slightly.  This will be the “root” end of the tree.  Separate the branch ends of the tree about half-way down the pipe cleaners.  You will want them to be bent like branches would look.

Tape the root ends of the tree to a piece of paper or the table surface with pieces of tape.  Now you are ready to play Fall Topple Math!

Fall Topple Math Game

Grab a pair of dice and get ready to play!  To play the Math Topple Game, players first choose their color paper clip.  They then will take turns rolling the dice.  The player will count the dots on both dice and add the total.  They then will place that number of paper clips onto the tree.  Each player places on only their paper clip color.  They need to keep the tree balanced by placing paper clips on even sides of the tree.  If the tree topples over, they are out of the game.  Players continue to take turns rolling the dice and adding their colored paper clips until all of the paper clips are gone.  The player that is in the game the longest or the first to use all of their paper clips without toppling the tree wins.

Alternate ideas:

You can easily adjust this game to meet the abilities of various ages.  Younger kids can use only one die and simply count the dots before adding paper clips.  Older children can subtract or multiply the dots of two dice.

Have fun with your kids this Fall with this Math Topple Game.  You might also like our Flip Flop Math activity for another creative addition game!