Michael Dorer’s book, The Deep Well of Time, has a short story about a shepherd. This shepherd needed to ensure the exact amount returned to him every night when he let out his sheep. However, this shepherd did not know how to count. He needed a system to keep track of the sheep before numbers were invented. This was when people counted, but only with repeated ones. There were no two, three, four, etc. This shepherd would take a stone and place it in a pile for every sheep in the flock. One stone would be removed from the pile for every sheep that came back. If stones were remaining in a pile, this told the shepherd that there were still sheep out in the meadow. If the pile was empty, all the sheep were back.

This lesson works very well as an introductory game to the history of numbers, which coincides with the Invention of Math Great Lesson. This fun game is simple enough for lower elementary. Still, the older students will enjoy the added challenge of risk versus reward.

Materials: 

·      A large play area

·      Lots of tennis balls or equivalent small ball

·      An equivalent amount of cones for the small balls. Use the smaller cones with an opening on the top for the small tennis ball to sit in, if possible.

Minimum Number of Students Needed: This game could be played with five or six players, but that limits the number of sheep. Essentially, the more players you have, the more sheep that can be in the game. This means a class of twenty (or more) would be the most fun.

Age: Lower and Upper Elementary