The Game of Leftovers

This week, we've been playing "The Game of Leftovers" in class. It's a great way to practice division and think about the relationship between multiplication and division.

Try out the game at home. You will need:

• 15 counters, tiles, pennies, small objects, etc. 
• 6 plates, pieces of paper, post-it notes, index cards, etc. 
• 1 die or 1 spinner with 6 spaces or the numbers 1-6 cut up and put in a container
• A piece of paper to record your results on 

Player One begins by rolling the die. Put out the number of plates that you roll (ex. 5 plates) and then divide the counters evenly between the plates (ex. 3 tiles per plate). Record the division number sentence (ex. 15/5 = 3 tiles). If there are any leftovers (remainders) that cannot be divided evenly between the plates put out, you get to keep them!

Continue taking turns until there are no counters left! The player who collected the most leftovers (the most counters) is the winner! 

Push your thinking deeper as you play. Are there any numbers that are difficult to get out of, numbers that you get stuck in for a long time? What makes those numbers difficult to roll out of? Are there any numbers for which it is easy to get leftovers? Why?