Cosmic Climb Mat
Suggested Activities and Games
MathShop: Cosmic Climb Mat
Find it! Materials needed:
● One 10 sided die or spinner with the numbers 1-10. The die can have
numbers or dots/pips.
● Spaceship markers - one colour of spaceships for each team
Goal:
To recognize numbers on the gameboard. The winning team is the team with the
most spaceships on the game board or three spaceships in a row.
Procedure:
Form two teams, green and purple aliens.
Teams take turns rolling the die and placing a spaceship on the corresponding
number on the Cosmic Climb mat.
Extension:
● Ask students to find ‘one more’ or ‘one less’.
● Create a die with geometric shapes and students can count the number of
sides to determine how many spaces to move forward. The first team to
the end.
● Students can count the number of letters in a word to decide how many
spaces to move.
NOTE: The Cosmic Climb mat can be used as a gameboard to reinforce any skill in
the curriculum- you decide what they need and they will have the fun!
​Have two kindies at a time search and sit or hop on the sum of ​2 + 3​ or ​8 + 1​ or the
difference of ​10 – 2 o​ r ​5 – 1 !​ Give them a spaceship for every correct answer.
Grades 1-8
Cover it! Materials needed:
● 12 sided dice- use two or three dice as appropriate for addition,
subtraction, multiplication or division
● Spaceship markers - one colour of spaceships for each team
Goal:
To cover numbers on the Cosmic Climb mat. The team that covers the most
numbers or three in a row wins.
Procedure:
Form two teams-one purple and one green.
Use two or three die as appropriate.
Students take turns rolling the die, calculating an answer, and covering the
answer with a spaceship. If a 2 and a 3 are rolled, the possible answers are 2 + 3 =
5, 3 -2 = 1, 2 X 3 = 6. Students must share their number sentence with the group.
Note:​ both teams can cover an answer or you may decide to make it more
competitive by letting the fastest team place a spaceship down.
Continue taking turns.
Alternate version:
● Before the dice are rolled, decide on whether the numbers will be added,
subtracted, or multiplied.
Go team go! We are all in this together!
Materials needed:
● 12 sided dice- use two or three dice as appropriate for addition,
subtraction, multiplication or division
● Spaceship markers - one colour of spaceships for each team
● One 6 sided dice or spinner
Goal:
To cover numbers, 1 - 36 on the Cosmic Climb mat. The team that covers the
most numbers or three in a row wins.
Procedure:
Form two teams-one purple and one green.
● Form two teams of 6. Number the students 1 - 6. One team will place
spaceships on the purple game board and the other team will use green.
● Use two or three die, as appropriate.
● Choose a skill to practice e.g., addition, multiplication etc.
● The purple team rolls the dice. Team members have 30 seconds to
calculate an answer. ​All team members need to know and be able to
share the answer e.g., 5 X 6 = 30.​ This strategy helps all children to
learn/sharpen their math skills.
● Roll the 6 sided die to determine which person in the team will provide the
answer. If correct, the team places a spaceship on the answer. If the person
on the team does not have the correct answer, roll the die again to give a
person on the opposing team a chance to provide the answer and move
their spaceship.
● Next, the green team rolls the dice as above.
● Repeat.
NOTE: The Cosmic Climb mat can be used as a gameboard to reinforce any skill in
the curriculum- you decide what they need and they will have the fun!
Game played during our Jump2math program:
Sit On It! Materials needed:
Purple and green space ships
1-3 1-12 number cubes (purple and green)
Black bin
Kindergarten
Procedure:
You roll one 1-12 number cube in the black bin.
Send out two students to find the number rolled and place their spaceship on it. Assist
when needed.
Grades 1 - 4
Procedure:
Form two teams - minimum 2 players
Green aliens and the Purple aliens
One from each team rolls their coloured dice (purple or green) in the black bin at the
same time.
You shout either addition or subtraction (answer cannot be more than 36!)
The two kids from each team rush to sit on the answer on the mat. They can only sit on
their team’s colour. (green or purple).
The first one to sit on the answer receives a spaceship.
The team with the largest fleet of spaceships wins.
Note: If the answer calculates to either 13 or 25, the team to sit on it first gets 2 space
ships.
Grades 5 - 8
Procedure:
Form two teams - minimum 2 players
Each team takes turns rolling three dice in the bin.
If they roll a 5, 10 and 2, they can add them all and get the sum of 17 or multiply 2 x 5 +
10 to capture the 20 by placing their spaceship on the number. The more spaceships
each team has on the cosmic climb mat the more points gained. Earn double and triple
points for a fleet of spaceships in a row. Players can use any number of operations
rolling all three dice.