Learning Game - KABOOM!

Materials

• Popsicle sticks
• Pen & Colored pencil
• Mug or other opaque container
• Facts to practice

How to Make Your KABOOM! Set

1. Use a pen to write one fact on the end of each popsicle stick.

2. For every 3-4 facts, label one stick KABOOM!

   • This means that in a set of 10 facts, you’ll include 2-3 KABOOM! sticks.

3. Differentiate sets by coloring over the facts with different colored pencils.

   • For example, if I’m using KABOOM! to help students practice multiplication facts, then I’ll use one color (maybe yellow!) for the 3s table and a different color (maybe green!) for the 4s table, and for every other multiplication set that I make.
4. Place the set you’d like to use “fact-side down” in a mug or other opaque container.

How to Play KABOOM!

1. If you are playing in a group, choose who will go first.

   • I recommend that the person whose birthday is coming soonest goes first.
2. The first player draws one stick from the mug.

3. If the stick asks them to answer or identify something, they must give the correct response.

   • If the player answers incorrectly, they must return the stick to the mug.
   • If the player answers correctly, they get to keep the stick.

4. If it’s a KABOOM! stick, all the popsicle sticks the player has accumulated must go back in the mug, including the KABOOM!

   • Because this happens pretty constantly to all players throughout the game, it softens the emotional blow.

5. Play continues for as long as you choose!

   • Because sticks frequently return to the mug with a KABOOM!, games can continue indefinitely.
   • I recommend setting a timer of 5-10 minutes on the game, so that it stays fresh.

This can be an enjoyable way to practice fact fluency each day and you can change the focus every day (or each week) to keep it fresh. Practice a broad range of skills with very little time required to prepare the materials.

Click below to view our video instructions!

• games
• student
• grades 1 - 5