These games resemble counting activities in which children use countable objects like counters, beads or squares. The aim of these games is to fill space ships with the correct number of weird alien creatures called Liathróidí.
The mathematical concepts explored in this activity include:
•counting on and back
•addition and subtraction
•odd and even numbers
•multiples
•doubling, halving
•multiplication and division
Game Instructions
• To place the Liathróidí in the crater, click on the bottles containing the Liathróidí along the edge of the crater. The number of Liathróidí in the bottles varies from game to game as does the number of bottles.
• Click on the plus button to make the bottles add Liathróidí to the crater.
• Click on the minus button to make the bottles subtract Liathróidí from the crater.
• Click on the clear button (next to the plus and minus buttons) to remove all Liathróidí from the crater.
• In some games there is a Drúchtín (Slug) at the right end of the row. If you click on the Drúchtín it will suck up the Liathróidí in the crater. You can then use this bottle to fill the crater with the number of Liathróidí that it has sucked up. Click on the clear button next to the Drúchtín to remove the Liathróidí it holds.
• Click on the crater to display the numbers of Liathróidí in the bottles and the crater.
• Click on the space ship to make it fly over the crater and beam up the Liathróidí.
• Click on the restart button in top right hand corner to play the game from the beginning again.
• Fox will tell you what sum you have done and the sum will appear in the bottom left corner of the screen.
• Click on Fox for help.
Fox Games
Help Fox fill the space ship with the correct number of Liathróidí in the lowest number of turns. The number or numbers of Liathróidí required are displayed on the space ship. In some games you must fill the spaceship according to the rule displayed on the side of the ship e.g. only even numbers.
There are 60 games in all and you can complete the games in any order you like. Game 1 is the easiest and game 60 is the hardest. The games are arranged in 6 groups of 10 games of a similar level of difficulty.
A gold, silver or bronze prize is awarded at the completion of each game depending on the number of turns taken. During the game the number of turns taken is displayed in the top right hand corner of the screen.
A turn consists of:
• adding Liathróidí to the crater
• subtracting Liathróidí from the crater
• emptying the crater using the clear button
• flying the spaceship over the crater
Fox Explore
Click on the balloon signpost to play three open ended explore activities. Ships and bottles are initially set up to encourage exploration of a specific concept, but there are no preset goals. They are designed to be played by children on their own, with another child or with a parent or mentor. There are three explore activities:
Explore 1 (Orange spaceship)
You have to fill the spaceship with the number of Liathróidí that matches the number written on its side. First, fill the crater with Liathróidí by clicking on the bottles arranged along the side of the crater. Click on the ship to make it fly over the crater and beam up the Liathróidí. Once you have filled the ship a new, empty ship appears. This activity gives feedback on counting on and back in 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 10s, and doubling.
Explore 2 (Green spaceship)
You can fill the empty spaceship with any number of Liathróidí that you want. This activity gives feedback on counting on and back in 2s, 5s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s and 10s.
Explore 3 (Red spaceship)
You have to fill the spaceship with numbers of Liathróidí that obey the rule written on the side of the ship. The rules include:
• odd numbers
• even numbers
• multiples of 2
• multiples of 5
• multiples of 10
• numbers ending in 0
This activity gives feedback on multiples of 2, 5 and 10, odd and even numbers, and numbers ending in 0.
Handy Hints
If a child experiences difficulty completing a game, the following hints may help:
• Use the Drúchtín to store Liathróidí. Put into the crater the amount of Liathróidí you would like to store and click on the Druchtín. The Drúichtín will come to the edge of the crater and suck up the liathróidí. To release the liathróidí, click on the Druchtín again. If you click on the Drúchtín repeatedly, the same number of liathróidí will be released again and again. Because of this ability, the Drúchtín is an easy way to make large numbers using a small number of turns. The Drúchtín is also useful in difficult games when there are bottles which can only be used once. The Drúchtín can be cleared out and refilled, by clicking the button below the Drúchtín and filling the crater with a different number of liathróidí.
• There are three types of spaceship: Ruleships, Pegships and Numberships.
• Ruleships include a written rule on the side of the spaceship; the ship must be filled with laithróidí that comply with this rule.
• Numberships sometimes contain curtains which obscure some of the numbers in the windows. This indicates that the numbers follow a pattern, which must be worked out to fill in the missing numbers and remove the curtains.
• Click once in the crater to display the numbers on the bottles at the side of the crater. Click twice in the crater to remove the numbers from the bottles.
