As Kohavim was enjoying the Hanukkah festivities last week, some children were singing the song, "Candlelight" over and over again. The lyric, "I throw my latkes in the air sometimes" sparked a discussion on what would happen if we really were to throw our latkes in the air. We decided that if we did throw our latkes in the air they would either stick to the ceiling or make a mess on the floor, but the children still wanted to try tossing latkes. So we developed a Latke Toss Game together.
In the Latke Toss Game, each player takes turns standing on the taped line. They get three chances to toss the latke from their frying pan. The children tossed the latke (in the game we used a bean bag) at cards labeled with numerals representing the amount of points you would receive. The closest card to tossing line was labeled 1 and increased with distance to 5. Depending on where the Latke lands, that is the amount of points the player earns that round. Because each player gets three tosses each turn, the children had the challenge of tallying the three tosses together.
After many practice rounds of Toss the Latke, the children signed in on the score sheet. Then they each took turns tossing the latkes. As the player took their place on the taped line, the other children cheered them on. The player then tossed "the latke" three times providing the other children with addition problems. If the player tossed the latke and it landed on a 2, then a 3, and then a 2 we had the challenge of adding all of those numbers together. What a fun way to explore "throwing our latkes in the air" and engaging in math!
