Pentomino Battleship

Age group

Primary (Age 6 to 9)
Junior/Intermediate (Age 9 to 12)

Curriculum Goal

Primary: Geometry and Spatial Sense

Plot and read coordinates in the first quadrant of a Cartesian plane.

Related Links

Context

This game can be played as a teacher-led game or a barrier game.
If students are unfamiliar with coordinates, play the warm-up game first.

Materials

1 Pentomino set per Player 1
Multiple square tiles in 2 different colours per Player 2
1 Game board per player (Appendix A)

Lesson

Part 1: Pentominoes on Grid

Pairs of students sit facing each other, with a barrier in between.
Player 1 secretly places two pentomino pieces on their game board (Fig. 1).
Player 1 calls out, one at a time, the letter-number coordinates for where the pentominoes are placed. They will also refer to a different tile colour for each pentomino shape (e.g., place a yellow tile on A4).
Player 2 follows the instructions to place the square tile in the correct spot.
Repeat this process (e.g., red on D3, yellow on A2, red on E3, etc.) until the two pentomino shapes are created on Player 2’s game board (Fig. 2).

Part 2: Pentomino Battleship

Player 1 secretly places two pentomino pieces (“battleships”) on their game board (Fig. 3).
Player 2 calls out a letter-number coordinate.
Player 1 reveals whether it’s a hit or a miss and Player 2 will place a tile on the target grid accordingly (e.g., blue for hit, yellow for miss).
Players continue until the two pentomino battleships have been “sunk” (Fig. 4).

Look Fors

Can children accurately describe the location of their pentominoes?
When playing battleship, what strategies do children use to plan their next move? For example, do they predict what pentomino they may need to sink and select coordinates appropriately?
What spatial language do children use?