Master Place Value with Place Value Baskets!

Welcome to our fun and fast-paced game, Place Value Baskets! Get ready to help sort the numbers as they fall from the sky. This game is designed to be a brilliant way for children to practise one of the most important concepts in maths: understanding place value.

Your mission is to look at the falling numbers and correctly sort their digits into the Tens and Ones baskets. As you get better, you’ll level up to sort Hundreds, and even sort digits based on their true value (like putting the ‘4’ from ’45’ into a ’40’ basket). It’s a fantastic challenge for building number sense!

Why is This Game Great for Learning?

This interactive game is more than just fun; it’s a powerful tool for reinforcing core mathematical skills. It helps children to:

• Partition Numbers: Actively break down two and three-digit numbers into their component parts (e.g., seeing that 68 is made of a ‘6’ in the tens column and an ‘8’ in the ones column).
• Understand Digit Value: Progressing to the “What’s the Value?” level helps children grasp that the ‘6’ in 68 isn’t just a six, it represents sixty.
• Build Number Sense: Develop a deeper, more intuitive understanding of how numbers are constructed, which is a critical foundation for addition, subtraction, and more complex maths.
• Improve Speed and Fluency: The game-based format encourages quick thinking and helps children become more confident and automatic in their place value recognition.

For Teachers and Parents: Meeting Key Stage 1 National Curriculum Objectives

“Place Value Baskets” is perfectly aligned with the UK’s National Curriculum for maths, making it an ideal tool for both the classroom and home learning.

• Year 1 Maths: The curriculum requires pupils to “identify and represent numbers using objects and pictorial representations including the number line, and use the language of: equal to, more than, less than (fewer), most, least” and “identify and represent numbers using… tens and ones.”
  • How this game helps: Level 1 is a direct and engaging way for children to practise identifying the tens and ones in any two-digit number.
• Year 2 Maths: Pupils must learn to “recognise the place value of each digit in a two-digit number (tens, ones)” and “partition numbers in different ways (e.g., 23 = 20 + 3 and 23 = 10 + 13).”
  • How this game helps: Level 1 reinforces the core Year 2 objective. Level 3 (“What’s the Value?”) directly challenges children to partition numbers and recognise the value of each digit (e.g., that the ‘2’ in 23 is ’20’).
• Supporting Year 3: As children move into lower Key Stage 2, they need to “recognise the place value of each digit in a three-digit number (hundreds, tens, ones).”
  • How this game helps: Level 2 provides the perfect introduction and practice for this new, more complex skill.

How to Use This Game

For Teachers:

• Lesson Starter: A perfect five-minute activity on the interactive whiteboard to get the whole class warmed up and thinking about place value.
• Consolidation Task: Use it as an independent activity on tablets or laptops for children to reinforce what they’ve learned in class.
• Informal Assessment: Quickly see which children are confident with place value and which may need extra support, especially on the “What’s the Value?” level.

For Parents:

• Fun Homework: A great alternative to worksheets! Challenge your child to reach a new level or beat their previous score.
• Talk About the Numbers: Use the game as a conversation starter. Ask questions like, “What would the number be if we swapped the tens and ones digits?” or “How many tens are in that number?”. This helps build a deeper understanding.