Fraction Trash Can Game
adapted from a game by Marilyn Burns in Math Solutions Newsletter, 1996
materials:
paper/pencil
die or spinner
trash cans
This is a game for two people. Players draws 4 squares and a line on their papers, as
illustrated above .Each person takes turns to roll the dice. Each time a player rolls, both
players have to write this number in one of the boxes of their papers. (Cover so other
player doesn’t see where the number has been positioned.) Once a number is written in a
box, it cannot be erased. When each person has rolled 2 times, each will have a fractional
number plus two numbers that have been discarded into the “trashcan” boxes. At this
time, the greater proper fraction wins, or if each proper fraction is the same, there is a tie.
Then the players decide on a way to represent the two fractions (as part of a region or a
group), then write a math sentence to compare the fractions. For instance, if the 4 rolls
were 5, 3, 2 and 4, one player may have made the fraction 4/5, discarding the 2 and 3.
and the other fraction may have made the fraction ¾, discarding the 5 and 2. Below are
the representations of each fraction:
4/5
>
3/4