Subtraction Bowling with a FREEBIE!

So if you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen pictures of the subtraction bowling activity I have been doing with my kindergarten friends this week! SO.MUCH.FUN!!!

I have to tell you that I really do love bowling. I used to have bowling birthday parties growing up and I still love going bowling with family and friends. And yes, I even have a set of bowling balls from when I was a kid!!! I have done this activity in past years so I knew the kids would love it, but this year my kiddos said, "Are we doing this again tomorrow?" and "You are the best teacher ever!" I also heard them encouraging each other and saying, "You can do this!" when it was another friend's turn to bowl! That just absolutely warms my teacher heart! If you have never used this activity with your students, here is a little overview of how it works.

I used my rainbow colored carpet to set up bowling lanes, along with some of the other carpet space in my room. I was able to have my students in groups of 2 or 3. If they were in groups of 3, there were 3 roles: a scorekeeper, a bowler, and a bumper. The scorekeeper used the recording sheet to record, the bowler was the friend taking a turn to bowl, and the bumper sat behind the "pins" to catch the ball. This role is crucial to avoid balls rolling all around the room!! Students rotated roles after each friend bowled. Everything worked SO smoothly and they were LEARNING!! We have been working on combinations of 10 and so many of my kids knew how many were knocked down after counting the cups that were still standing because of that. So really, they were using subtraction AND addition skills....EEEEEEEEK!!!! Seriously friends, how AMAZING is that?!?! Here are some pictures of subtraction bowling in action: