Skip-Counting:

Each shot you make is worth 3 points. When you tally up the points, skip count by 3's. (Or each shot is worth 2, or 5, or 10, or 1,000. You get the idea.)

Odds and Evens:

Like Mystery Points, described above, only instead of writing the same numbers but in two different colors, just write the numbers in one color. When scoring at the end, one player gets points for every even number, and the other player for every odd number.

Depending on what numbers you write, one player will have an advantage over the other. If you write the numbers 1 through 20, for example, the "odd" player can get a total of 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 + 11 + 13 + 15 + 17 + 19 = 100 points. The "even" player can get a total of 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 10 + 12 + 14 + 16 + 18 + 20 = 110 points. You can either let the poorer shooter be evens, or you can remove the 10 so that each player has a total of 100 possible points.

Subtraction Black Hole:

Arrange a few bigger waste baskets around a smaller basket or container. If you accidentally make a shot into the smaller basket, subtract a point from your total.

10's and 1's:

Practice place value by writing "10" on several sheets of paper, and "1" on several sheets of paper. Crumple up all pieces of paper and mix them up. Then each player aims for their own trashcan. At the end, each player counts up the points they earned in their trashcan. Compare the scores to the pieces of paper from each trashcan. Notice that a score of 21 comes from two 10's and one 1, 43 comes from four 10's and three 1's, etc.

Stairs or Chairs:

Arrange a few baskets on some stairs, so some are higher than others. Or put one on the ground and one up on a chair. Assign different point values to each basket (the hardest to get is worth the most points). Keep track of points as you play, or use different colors of paper and tally up points afterwards.

Taller, Wider, Rounder:

Set out 2 or more wastebaskets. Then use descriptive words to decide which trashcan each player will aim for. Don't be shy about bringing in some math vocabulary if you know it: "I'll aim for the rectangular one, and you can aim for the round one," or "You aim for the shorter trashcan."

Scores for Chores:

Keep score while throwing toys in the toy box, or sorting laundry into different bins.

Skip-Counting:

Skip-counting is counting by 2's or 3's or some other number. (Skip-counting by 2's, for example, means counting 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc.) If your child is new to skip-counting, count all the numbers, but say the "skip-count" numbers more loudly. So if each paper ball is worth 3 points, count, "1, 2, 3!, 4, 5, 6!, 7, 8, 9!" and so on.

Pairs That Add to Ten:

When adding up points after a game, look for pairs that add to ten to make the addition easier. For example, if you're playing the Odds and Evens variation, pair 2 with 8 and 6 with 4 to quickly determine that the sum is 20.

Adding up Odd Numbers:

If you are playing the Odds and Evens variation, you may notice that the sum of the first 10 odd numbers is 100, which also happens to be the square of 10. Is this always true? Use coins or blocks to experiment. 1 block can be arranged in to a very simple 1x1 "square." Now add 3 (the next odd number) more blocks. All together, these can be arranged into a 2x2 square. Add the next odd number, 5, more blocks, and find that these can all be arranged into a 3x3 square. Can your child explain why this will always work?