Tell me Quick - recognizing familiar arrangements at a glance

We have started to look at the math concept of recognizing familiar arrangements of dots...think Dice.    Many of them know these arrangements, especially if they place dice games at home.  That became clear pretty quickly as we explored the topic today!

So, we added the challenge of looking at unfamiliar arrangements of dots.  These would include numbers to six (so far) that might be arranged in, for example, a group of four and one off to the side to make five.  The really interesting part is when you ask them how they got the answer.  Some of them move the dots in their mind's eye to make the arrangement more familiar.  Some count by 2's, some see groups of 3's or 4's and add up from there and some "just know."  Fascinating!

Below are a couple of pictures of a simple game introduced today.  They play with a partner, roll their die and color in the corresponding number of dots on their card.  First one to fill their card knows that they rolled more high numbers than their partner (AKA, wins;-).  Incorporates fine motor, counting, and the concept of recognizing familiar arrangements.