Hexa Fraction

Junior (Age 9 – 12)

Curriculum Goal

Junior: Number Sense

Represent fractions from halves to tenths using drawings, tools, and standard fractional notation, and explain the meanings of the denominator and the numerator.

Fraction Goals:

Children should be familiar with different area models for representing fractions

In-person version:
- Game board with outlines of 6 hexagons (Appendix A)
- Pattern blocks (Trapezoid, Rhombus and Triangle only)
- Blank paper to tally points
- Fraction cards (Appendix B)
Online version:
- Game file (Appendix C) – Playingcards.io upload instructions

Children practice representing fractions and identifying equivalent fractions.
The objective of the game is for the children to “claim” the most hexagons on the board by filling them in with pattern blocks. If a child fills in a hexagon on their turn, they “claim” that hexagon and earn one point.
Each child will keep track of their points by tallying them on a piece of paper.
- In the online version, each child is assigned a point counter on the game board with their name.
Children take turns drawing one fraction card from the deck.
- Reuse the cards when all have been drawn. Consider printing more than one copy Appendix B to create a larger deck of cards.
Once the child has drawn a card, they select one or more pattern blocks that represent the fraction on the card and place them in a hexagon(s).
- g., if a child draws the 1/2 card, they can use any combination of pattern blocks (i.e., 3 triangles; 1 parallelogram and 1 triangle; or 1 trapezoid) to fill in half of any of the hexagons.
Children can also choose to divide their fraction amongst the hexagons.
- g., if a child draws 1/2, they can place three triangles in one hexagon OR place two triangles in one hexagon and one triangle in another hexagon, as 3 triangles make up half of a hexagon.
The child to place the last piece in a hexagon “claims” that hexagon and earns one point.
The game ends when all the hexagons are filled in. The child with the most points at the end of the round wins.

Are the children able to match their fraction cards to the equivalent pattern blocks?
Do the children use equivalent fractions to maximize their chances of claiming a hexagon?
- E.g., when a child draws a 1/2 fraction card, do they use three triangle pattern blocks and divide it up amongst the hexagons if this allows them to “claim” a hexagon versus using one trapezoid pattern block?