Addition in maths is a boring topic, especially for kids who are generally taught addition at the tender age of 6 or 7. In spite of being a boring topic we still need kids to learn addition in a strong way. Addition is the base of nearly all of mathematics and thus a strong foundation is required from childhood.

Many kids are taught addition directly without being given the context. That is a very wrong approach. Most good schools however teach addition in a more visually appealing way. Kids are shown some visually appealing objects and are generally told to add them. That is a good way of teaching addition but it still leaves children a little clueless about real world application of addition.

I found the game of ‘Book Cricket’, a relatively easy way to make kids practice addition. Book Cricket is a small book based game which simulates a cricket match just by opening and closing a book. The book is opened at a random location and the page number checked. Generally even numbered pages are taken into consideration. The last digit of the page number is taken as the score for a particular ball. If the last digit of a page is 0 then the player gets out. If the last digit is 8 then some people take it as 8 runs while others take it as 1 run. Some even take it as a ‘no ball’.

Thus if a parent or a teacher plays Book Cricket with a child then the child will get a large supply of numbers to add. Every time runs are scored with the opening of a book, the player needs to write the number on a paper. When a player gets out he/she has to total the score. Thus if a player has played 20 balls before getting out then he/she will have to add 20 single digit numbers.

Many people in Cricket playing countries play Cricket. So many kids in Cricket playing countries will like this game also. The game is great fun to play. When I was a kid I used to host World Cup competition in my note books using this game. I used to have 11 players each in 8 teams. That way I had to add a lot. I had to create full score boards by hand.

I have been quite good a mental maths from my childhood. I think Book Cricket had some role in it. I have even tried this game with my son. The game is still fun to play and a little practice of addition is a by product!