Cookie Game

One Big Cookie

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Each child receives a blank cookie board. Children take turns rolling a number cube to determine how many chocolate chips to place on the cookie. One child counts out the chips based on the number rolled and another child counts to make sure it’s the correct number. Then children place the chips on the cookie. Children switch roles and continue until their cookie is filled.

Primary Objective

  • Counting out sets of 5 to 10 (or more!) objects
  • Counting objects with one-to-one correspondence

How to use

  1. First, introduce the activity to the WHOLE GROUP.
  2. Then, engage children in the activity in SMALL GROUPS.
  3. Once the children are very familiar with the activity, they can play it independently at CENTER TIME with slight modifications.

If most children can create and count sets of up to 10 objects using one-to-one correspondence, they might be ready for Share the Chips.

Materials

  • Cookie Game boards (20-chip board—one for each person if modeling with two children)
  • Counting chips (round, all the same color)
  • Small bowl and plate
  • 1-3 dot Number cube (see Summary of Activity Adaptations for other number cube options)
  • Cookie Game activity step icons

Teacher Resources

Explore the Executive Function and Math Skills in This Activity

Steps of the activity

The activity steps icons below outline the steps of the activity. Print these icons as cards and share them to help children remember the steps. They’re also a helpful scaffold for children!

Find a sample script for teachers to use here.

Step 1

Child 1 rolls the number cube and tells how many are on top.

Step 2

Child 1 counts out that many counters (chocolate chips) from the bowl and puts them on the paper plate.

Step 3

Child 1 asks Child 2, “Am I right?” Child 2 checks and agrees, if correct.

Step 4

Child 1 puts the counters from the paper plate onto the cookie.

Step 5

Children switch roles and play again, continuing until their cookie is filled.
Instructions

Instructions for introducing the activity to the Whole Group. 

Introduce the Activity

We’re going to pretend to be bakers and make a very chocolaty cookie by filling it with these chocolate chips!

Show children the blank cookie board and the bowl of counters, emphasizing that the counters are the pretend chocolate chips.

MAKE IT EASIER

MAKE IT HARDER
Model the Activity

We’re going to use these pictures to help us remember the steps.

Show children the activity step icons.

 

MAKE IT HARDER

  • EF: omit the activity step icons and related text in each step below.

First, I roll the cube and say how many are (or which number is) on the top of the cube. This will tell us how many chocolate chips we need for our cookie recipe!

Point to the first activity step icon card.

MAKE IT EASIER

  • Math & EF: use a dot cube with only 1-2 or 1-3 dots repeated on the faces.

MAKE IT HARDER

  • Math & EF: use more challenging cubes. In order of increasing difficulty: 1-6 dot cube, 1-6 numeral cube, 5-10 number cube, two dot cubes, one numeral cube and one dot cube, or two numeral cubes.

I rolled [number].

What do we do first?

Roll the number cube and say the number on top.

Encourage children to tell you the first step.

Then, I count that many chocolate chips from my bowl and put them on my plate. I’m going to make sure I stop when I get to [number on top of the rolled cube] because that’s how many we need for our recipe.

Point to the second activity step icon card.

Count out the correct number of counters from the bowl and place them on the plate.

Next, I turn to my partner and ask, “Am I right?” My partner looks at the cube, then counts the chips on my plate and tells me if I am right. We work together to fix it if we need to.

Point to the third activity step icon card.

Model how the partner will count to check the number of chips. If you have another adult available, it can be helpful to have them pretend to be the partner.

Next, I put the chips from the plate onto my cookie. I put one chocolate chip on each of the spaces on the cookie.

Point to the fourth activity step icon card.

Place the chips on the cookie board.

Now we switch turns!

Point to the last step icon card.

Explore The Executive Function And Math Skills In This Activity

Executive Function Skills
Math Learning Trajectories
What to do next

Are some students ready for more challenge? Try the adaptations provided above. Want even more challenge? For children who are already comfortably counting sets of 10 or more objects with consistent one-to-one correspondence and are beginning to learn number combinations, introduce the Share the Chips version. On another day, do the activity in Small Group .

If most children can create and count sets of up to 10 objects using one-to-one correspondence, they might be ready for Share the Chips.

Materials

  • Cookie Game boards (one for each child)
  • Counting chips (all the same color, enough for 20-50 chips for each child depending on the Cookie Game board used)
  • Small bowls and plates (one of each for each pair of children)
  • Number cubes (at least one cube for each pair of children; see Summary of Activity Adaptations for other number cube options)
    • 1-3 dot cube
  • Cookie Game activity step icons (one set for each pair of children)
  • Cookie Game role cards (one set for each pair of children)
  • Think-Pair-Share cards

Teacher Resources

Explore the Executive Function and Math Skills in This Activity

Steps of the activity

For Small Groups, we suggest four children arranged in pairs of two with a teacher present to provide guidance.

The activity steps icons below outline the steps of the activity. Print these icons as cards and share them to help children remember the steps. They’re also a helpful scaffold for children!

Find a sample script for teachers to use here.

Step 1

Child 1 rolls the number cube and tells how many are on top.

Step 2

Child 1 counts out that many counters (chocolate chips) from the bowl and puts them on the paper plate.

Step 3

Child 1 asks Child 2, “Am I right?” Child 2 checks and agrees, if correct.

Step 4

Child 1 puts the counters from the paper plate onto the cookie.

Step 5

Children switch roles and play again, continuing until their cookie is filled.
Instructions

Instructions for introducing the activity to the Small Group . 

Introduce the Activity

It’s time to make our chocolate chip cookies. We’re going to make them extra chocolaty with all these chocolate chips!

You each have your own cookie to fill and you’ll take turns rolling and checking.

You will have picture cards to help you remember how to play and to remind you whether you are the roller and counter or the checker. 

Show children the empty cookie boards and the bowl of counters, emphasizing that the counters are the pretend chocolate chips.

MAKE IT EASIER

  • Math: use the 20-chip cookie board.
  • Math & EF: use a dot cube with only 1-2 or 1-3 dots repeated on the faces.

If children are struggling, consider having pairs work together on a single cookie. One rolls the cube and counts chips, the other produces the set of chips; they both count to check and place the chips on the cookie.

MAKE IT HARDER

In order of increasing difficulty: 1-6 dot cube, 1-6 numeral cube, 5-10 number cube, two dot cubes, one numeral cube and one dot cube, or two numeral cubes.
Model the Activity

[First child’s name], it’s your turn to roll the number cube and count your chips.

Place the hand role card in front of the child who is rolling and counting first.

Point to the first and second activity step icons as you describe these steps.

You get the hand card first because you get to roll and count first.

MAKE IT EASIER

  • Math: use the role cards or the activity step icons
  • EF: omit the role cards or the activity step icons.

MAKE IT HARDER

  • Math & EF: when working with two cubes, after children roll (for example, 2 + 2, 4 total), ask them if there’s another combination that would give the same total (for example, 1 + 3). You can let them manipulate cubes to determine the answer or give them part of the ‘alternate’ option as a prompt (for example, “If one cube was a 3…”).
  • Math & EF: have children tell you how many chips they had before rolling, what they rolled, and how many total chips they will have after rolling—all before manipulating the chips.

[Second child’s name], it’s your turn to check if your partner is right.

You get the check card first because you get to check first.

Does your partner have the right number of chips for the recipe?

If children did not produce the correct number of chips, say, Think-Pair-Share with each other to figure out how we could fix it so there are the right number of chips.

 

Place the check role card in front of the child who is checking first.

Point to the third activity step icon as you describe this step.

After the child checks, ask them to confirm whether the correct number of chips was counted.

If the correct number was not counted onto the plate, encourage children to Think-Pair-Share and work together to fix it. It may be easier for children to remove the chips and start over than to fix the mistake by adding to or taking away from the chips already on the plate.

MAKE IT EASIER

MAKE IT HARDER

[First child’s name], now you can put the chocolate chips onto your cookie!

The first child places chips on their cookie.

Point to the fourth activity step icon as you describe this step.

MAKE IT HARDER

  • Math: have children tell you how many chips they will have in all before they place the new set on the cookie or have children figure out how many chips they need to fill their cookie.
  • Math & EF: have children remember and state the starting number of chips and what steps they took to reach the number they have now, introducing plus and minus terms (for example, “I had 2, plus 3, and now I have 5.”)

Now we switch!

Have children trade role cards so the first child now has the check card and the second child has the hand card.

Point to the final activity step icon as you describe this step.
Time to Play!

Now you will take turns being the roller and counter and the checker!

Give each pair of children two Cookie Game boards, a bowl of counting chips, a small plate, a number cube, a set of role cards, and a set of activity step icons.

It’s your turn to be the roller and counter first [point to student], and it’s your turn to be the checker [point to student].

Assign one student in each pair to be the counter and roller and the checker, using the role cards if needed.

MAKE IT EASIER

  • EF: use the role cards.

MAKE IT HARDER

  • EF: omit the role cards

Let’s play! First, the roller and counter rolls the cube and counts the chips. Then the checker checks. Then the roller and counter puts them on their cookie.

Lead students through the activity with the activity step icons.

It’s time to switch roles and play again! If you were the roller and counter last time, you are now the checker. If you were the checker, now you get to be the roller and counter.

Switch roles until the cookie boards are filled, also switching the role cards if they’re being used.

Continue through the steps until the cookie boards are filled.

If one child completes their cookie well before the other child in the pair, the two can work together to complete the other child’s cookie, continuing to take turns.

Explore The Executive Function And Math Skills In This Activity

Executive Function Skills
Math Learning Trajectories
What to do next

Do some students need more support or more challenge? Try the adaptations provided above for Small Group. Continue working in Small Groups with teacher support until students can comfortably play with minimal teacher guidance. Then have students practice the activity independently in Center. For children who are already comfortably counting sets of 10 or more objects with consistent one-to-one correspondence and are beginning to learn number combinations, introduce the Share the Chips version.

Did some of your students play Share the Chips in a Small Group? If so, they should also play that version during Center. Don’t forget, children should play One Big Cookie in Small Group before playing in Center!

Materials

  • Cookie Game boards (one for each child)
  • Counting chips (all the same color, enough for 20-50 chips for each child depending on the Cookie Game board used)
  • Small bowls and plates (one of each for each pair of children)
  • Number cubes (at least one cube for each pair of children; see Summary of Activity Adaptations for other number cube options)
    • 1-3 dot cube
  • Cookie Game activity step icons (one set for each pair of children)
  • Cookie Game role cards (one set for each pair of children)

Teacher Resources

Explore the Executive Function and Math Skills in This Activity

Steps of the activity

The activity steps icons below outline the steps of the activity. Print these icons as cards and share them to help children remember the steps. They’re also a helpful scaffold for children!

Find a sample script for teachers to use here.

Step 1

Child 1 rolls the number cube and tells how many are on top.

Step 2

Child 1 counts out that many counters (chocolate chips) from the bowl and puts them on the paper plate.

Step 3

Child 1 asks Child 2, “Am I right?” Child 2 checks and agrees, if correct.

Step 4

Child 1 puts the counters from the paper plate onto the cookie.

Step 5

Children switch roles and play again, continuing until their cookie is filled.
Instructions

Instructions for introducing the activity to the Center. 

Review the Activity

Today, the Cookie Game we’ve been playing together will be at [name] Center!

Tell students that the activity will be in Centers to play on their own.

MAKE IT EASIER

  • Math: use the 20-chip cookie board.
  • Math & EF: use a dot cube with only 1-2 or 1-3 dots repeated on the faces.

If children are struggling, consider having pairs work together on a single cookie. One rolls the cube and counts chips, the other produces the set of chips; they both count to check and place the chips on the cookie.

MAKE IT HARDER

  • Math: use the 50-chip cookie board.
  • Math & EF: use more challenging cubes. In order of increasing difficulty: 1-6 dot cube, 1-6 numeral cube, 5-10 number cube, two dot cubes, one numeral cube and one dot cube, or two numeral cubes.

You will have picture cards to help you remember how to play and to remind you whether you are the roller and counter or the checker.

Display the activity step icons and role cards.
Time to Play!

Let’s remind ourselves how to play the game!

Review the steps of the activity while referencing the activity step icons and role cards.

MAKE IT EASIER

  • EF: use the role cards or the activity step icons.

MAKE IT HARDER

Explore The Executive Function And Math Skills In This Activity

Executive Function Skills
Math Learning Trajectories
What to do next

Keep playing this activity in Centers throughout the year. Students who played the One Big Cookie version may switch to the Share the Chips version once they’ve been introduced to it in Small Group, can comfortably count sets of 10 or more objects with consistent one-to-one correspondence, and are beginning to learn number combinations. Do some students need more support or more challenge? Try the adaptations provided above for Centers.

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