Chip Trading is Fundamental in Pre-Primary School

The Chip Trading Game is a longstanding tradition in Lowell’s Pre-Primary School as both a fun game and an introduction to important math skills. In the game, students roll a die to collect the matching number of white poker chips. Once everyone has had a turn, trading can begin. Players can trade in three white chips for one blue chip for as long as they have chips available. Once they have three blue chips in hand, they can trade them for one red chip. Rounds of rolling the die and trading continue until three red chips get you the coveted gold chip and a win! As they become more comfortable with the game, the children also take turns in the role of the “banker,” meaning they are responsible for counting, handing out, and trading the correct number of chips to players during every turn.

 

“The game allows children to play at their own level and helps them practice skills such as adding, number sense, understanding sets, and trading up,” says Adventurers Room teacher Denielle. Teachers especially notice children’s one-to-one correspondence counting improves after engaging with the Chip Trading Game: an essential building block for any number of mathematical concepts they will encounter in subsequent years. And, the use of patterns and categorization—like always gathering groups of three of a color to trade up—ties in with strategies our young friends have been utilizing elsewhere in the classroom, like making patterns of colored beads or anticipating what comes next in a story based on its pattern.

 

In addition to the beloved Chip Trading Game, students will encounter other dice and board games throughout the year, each of which carries its own educational value. Says Explorers Room teacher Lisa, “As children are engaged in playing these games, they are also learning basic rules such as turn-taking, patience, risk-taking, strategy, and of course having lots of fun!”