1. Four in a Line activities
Resources for schools
Four in a Line activities
By Chris Pearson - Numeracy Consultant

2. "Four in a Line" games
These games are enormously adaptable. They can be used for a vast range of mathematical topics, and can be differentiated quite easily - by changing numbers, by giving children some sort of material support or often just by judicious pairing. Obviously there is no need for each game to follow a ‘"Four in a Line"’ rule - it might be 2 or 3 or even 5 in a line rule; it could also be ‘four joined up’ or even making a line right across the board ( as in Blockbuster ).

3. Developing calculations and number facts.
This group of games can be used to reinforce teaching of number facts, such as tables or number bonds, and can also be used to help children develop specific calculation strategies, such as multiplying by multiples of 100, 50, 20, 5 etc.

4. Multiplying multiples of 10
240
360 60
120
150 20
160
200
180 90 40
300 30 10 50
100 80
250
Throw a dice, multiply the score by one of the numbers below. Cover the number you make. "Four in a Line" to win. 10 20 30 40 50 60

5. Multiplying by multiples of 530 60 75
150 20
120 15
180 90 80 10
100 50 45 25 40
Throw a dice, multiply the score by one of the numbers below. Cover the number you make. "Four in a Line" to win. 5 10 15 20 25 30

6. Multiplying multiples of 100
2400
3600
600
1200
1500
200
1600
2000
1800
900
400
3000
300
100
500
1000
800
2500
Throw a dice, multiply the score by one of the numbers below. Cover the number you make. "Four in a Line" to win.
100
200
300
400
500
600

7. Multiplying multiples of 212 32 30 4 24 72 6 48 60 18 50 10 40 36 16 8 20 2
Throw a dice, multiply the score by one of the numbers below. Cover the number you make. "Four in a Line" to win. 2 4 6 8 10 12

8. Multiplying multiples of 20
120
320
300 40
240
720 60
480
600
180
500
100
400
360
160 80
200 20
Throw a dice, multiply the score by one of the numbers below. Cover the number you make. "Four in a Line" to win. 20 40 60 80
100
120

9. Multiplying by multiples of 4
144 48 32 96 80 20 56
100 8 16 60 4 36 72
120 24 40 12
Throw a dice, multiply the score by one of the numbers below. Cover the number you make. "Four in a Line" to win. 4 8 12 16 20 24

10. Multiplying multiples of
Throw a dice, multiply the score by one of the numbers below. Cover the number you make. "Four in a Line" to win.

11. Number bonds to 10 3 4 8 1 6 2 5 7 9 10
Players occupy spaces on the grid by spinning a 0-9 spinner and then identifying the numbers which need to be added to the spinner number to make 10.

12. Table facts up to 6X6
Each player takes turn in throwing two dice and covers the product of the two numbers. First to get four in a row wins

13. X8 Fable Facts - Four in a Line80 24 32 40 64 16 56 72 8 48

14. Place value "Four in a Line"
234
456 62
167
188
992
263
115
973
896
226 13
901
500
666
138
778
504
561
892
599
474
384
248
Each player takes a turn at throwing a 1-6 die and a 1,10,100 die. The number on the 1-6 die is multiplied by the number on the 1,10,100 die. The resulting number is then found in a number on the grid which may be covered. E.g player throws 4 and 100 this give 4x100=400 the player can cover 474 or 456 because they have four hundred in them. "Four in a Line" wins.

15. Number bonds to .

16. "Four in a Line" Classification games
This type of "Four in a Line" game is useful for reinforcing teaching about the properties of numbers or shapes. They will often require cards and therefore will take longer to prepare, but the blank grids should be useful. They can be used in a great variety of ways. The use of dice - as in the equivalent fractions example - can be useful, and keys like as the example below might reduce the need to create special dice.
Dice score
1or 2
3 or 4
5 or 6
Action
Find a lower number
Find an equivalent number
Find a higher number

17. How many angles or sides.
An adapted dice can generate the number of angles or sides that a shape must have in order to be claimed. Take it in turns to throw. "Four in a Line" wins.

18. Shape Cards for "Four in a Line".
Oval
Circle
Hexagon
Pentagon
Square
Trapezium
Octagon
Triangle
Rectangle
These cards can be used in conjunction with the previous grid. Players take turns in turning a card and cover that shape. This helps shape recognition and could be played with irregular shapes as well.

19. Quadrilateral "Four in a Line"

20. Cards for Quadrilateral "Four in a Line"
Square
Rectangle
Oblong
Trapezium
Rhombus
Kite
Parallelogram
Quadrilateral
These cards can be used with the quadrilateral board on the previous page. The cards might be chosen at random or using a 1-8 spinner and numbering the cards e.g. a 5 on the spinner might relate to the kite card etc.

21. "Four in a Line" equivalence games
These games can be used to help reinforce ideas of equivalence. Either equivalent numbers such as fractions or equivalent values using different units such as 10m = 1000cm. The initial values are generated by a dice or a spinner, and any cell on the board can be covered which has that value or an equivalent amount - or an amount more than, less than or equal to the initial value has to be found (see equivalent fraction game). Any type of measurement might be applied to these types of activity.

22. Equivalent Fractions 1 8 2 4 32 3 16 6 12 16 1 32 2 24 32
The first player puts a counter on a square. The second child then throws a dice. If the dice shows 1 or 2 they must put their counter onto a higher number, if they throw a 3 or 4 they should put their counter on a lower number, if they throw a 5 or 6 they should choose an equivalent number. The players takes it in turns to play like this until one has 4 in a line. If you can’t go you miss a turn.

23. Equivalent Fractions
The first player puts a counter on a square. The second child then throws a dice. If the dice shows 1 or 2 they must put their counter onto a higher number, if they throw a 3 or 4 they should put their counter on a lower number, if they throw a 5 or 6 they should choose an equivalent number. The players take it in turns to play like this until one has 4 in a line. If you can’t go you miss a turn.

24. Fraction, decimal & percentage "Four in a Line". 0.333. 0.5 50% 0.1
25%
100%
33.3%
1.00
0.25
20% 1
75%
0.2
0.125
12.5%
0.75
10%
0.1000 1 4
1 2
3 4
1 8
1 10
1 3
1 5
Take it in turn to throw adapted dice. Choose any equivalent value to get 4 in a line.e.g player throws ½ they can cover ½, 0.5 or 50%.

25. Length conversion "Four in a Line"
1.0m
250cm 5m
500mm
100cm
10cm
0.5m
10000mm
2.5m
2500mm
Half a metre
500cm
One metre
0.1m
5000mm
50cm
Ten metres
1000mm
10m
100mm
1000cm
Using an adapted dice, players cover the length shown or an equivalent length.

26. Time "Four in a Line" game 60 seconds 1 hour Half an hour 20 minutes
¼ of an hour
60 minutes
1/3 of an hour
1800 seconds
3600 seconds
900 seconds
1200 seconds
30 minutes
1/60 of an hour
1 minute
1/12 of an hour
15 minutes
300 seconds
E.g player throws a number of seconds. They can cover that amount of time in any form

28. "Four in a Line"