Collaborative Play:

Make just one score card. Players still take turns, but work together to cross off all the numbers. This version of the game is also shorter, which can be helpful for younger kids.

Change the Rules:

Be flexible so the game works for you and your math beast. Here are some ideas:

• If the numbers are too hard to hit, move them a little closer to the pendulum or a little closer to each other.
• Let each player have up to 4 swings on a turn.
• If the wrecking ball hits more than one number on a swing, count both.
• Let players choose to use only some of the numbers they hit on a turn. So if a player hits 3 and 1, but already has 3 + 1 = 4 and 3 - 1 = 2, they could use just the 3 or just the 1.

Bowling:

Not up for making a pendulum? (You're missing out!) Set up your blocks (or dominoes or whatever you're using) at the end of a hallway and use a tennis ball to bowl them down. Find the right distance so knocking down the numbers isn't too hard or too easy.

Trashketball:

Set out three trashcans or buckets and label them 1, 3, and 9. Throw 3 paper balls on your turn. (And see our game Trashketball for more ideas.)

Addition Only:

For a simpler, shorter game, label your blocks with the numbers 1, 2, and 4 (instead of 1, 3, and 9), and write the numbers 1 to 7 on your score card (instead of 1 to 13). Play as you would for regular Wrecking Ball to knock down the numbers, but when you put them on your score card, use only addition (not subtraction).

Addition & Subtraction Strategies:

Look for ways to help your child with addition and subtraction. When adding 9, 3, and 1, for example, it can help to add the 9 and the 1 first to get 10, then add 3 more to get 13. When first learning addition and subtraction, it's fine to count on fingers. When adding, see if your child can start at the higher number, and count up from there. So in adding 9+3, they would say "10, 11, 12" holding up a finger each time until they have 3 fingers held up.

Equations:

Because kids so often see math problems in the form 2 + 2 = __, they can mistakenly think that an equals sign means, essentially, "what's the answer?" In fact, an equals sign is a way of showing that two amounts are the same! The amount on the left of the equals sign is the same as the amount on the right, like a balance scale. The equation 2 + 2 = 4 tells us that two groups of 2 is the same amount as one group of 4. An equation like 1=1 may seem silly or meaningless if you think an equals sign is asking you to give the answer. In fact, the equals sign is showing that both sides are the same. In the context of Wrecking Ball, an equation like 1 = 1 tells us, "I just need to knock down a 1 to get a total of 1." No addition or subtraction needed!

Powers of Three:

Though young math beasts won't recognize the numbers 1, 3, and 9 as anything special (and that's fine), they are in fact what mathematicians (and middle and high school students) recognize as powers of 3. (3 to the zeroth power equals 1, 3 to the first power equals 3, and 3 to the second power equals 9.)

Wrecking Ball takes advantage of the fact that these numbers can be added or subtracted to make every number from 1 to 13.

The next power of 3 is 3 to the third power. This means we multiply 3 times itself 3 times, 3 × 3 × 3 = 27. Can your math beast use the numbers 1, 3, 9, and 27 to make every number from 1 to 40?