Our first board game, Prime Climb, is a mathematical powerhouse. You can get the game on Amazon, or check other options. The good news is, there’s plenty of ways to use the factorized color-coding of the game.
Show the Prime Climb chart up to 20. Ask students what they notice, and any conjectures for how the coloring works.
Optional: Extend to the chart to 60. Do their initial conjectures hold? What changes would they make?
After that initial discussion, hand out the blank chart to 100 and challenge students to color in the next row. How far can they go?
View FullscreenFind more ideas for using Prime Climb inspired lessons in the classroom here.
Check out these descriptions of using the Prime Climb and the colorations at Priscilla Allan’s classroom website here.
There’s also a beautiful description of using the Prime Climb number images at the Doing Maths blog here.
Comments 11
How can I print out the board that is not colored? Love how you progressed from board one to board three.
Author
There should be an option to download by clicking the small button on the top right button of the image of the uncolored board.
Thank you Dan,
Appreciated.
I like the progression of the lesson. I’m wondering about the decision to include the larger prime numbers at least in the pattern lesson i.e., 19 for 57 when players can figure them out by dividing by the smaller prime number (green, 3). I haven’t seen directions for the board game so I assume that having the larger prime numbers gives access to players at different skill levels.
Dan-
Have you made a large poster of the hundreds chart yet? I’m the teacher that cut hundreds of circles and made my own (you shared it a couple of years ago) I’m about to start my board again, but would really love a poster to hang instead. 🤓 Construction paper fades…
Author
You can get a PDF to print at https://primeclimbgame.com/buy/
Any chance you’ve got a PDF of the blank chart without the divisions put in (only the circles)? It would be interesting to have students not only figure out the coloring but the scheme for breaking apart each number. Looking forward to introducing both the materials and the game to my students!
Author
Good thought. I haven’t made this myself, but NCTM had a take on this activity that included one. If you are a member, you can find it here: https://www.nctm.org/Publications/Teaching-Children-Mathematics/2018/Vol24/Issue6/Alien-numbers/
This lesson was a HUGE hit with our 4th graders who were about to start a lesson on prime and composite numbers. Their excitement and engagement as they tried to figure out the ‘puzzle’ was so rewarding. Thank you for sharing this!
Author
Glad to hear it went so well! Thanks for letting us know!
Dan, BIG THANKS for sharing your knowledge with us. I just started as a math teacher and your guidance and lessons was a big help to me and my students. The lessons i started making after watching your videos and reading your guides have made math a lot more easier to understand and more fun.
I hope i never again hear a kid say he/she hates math.