Fun Games with Math

Some people are just math people and some are not. We have all had a time where we didn’t get something and that caused us a lot of anxiety and angst and I know math can be one of those areas for a lot of people. So what makes something more exciting and fun to practice and build skills with? OBVIOUSLY A MATH GAME! Everyone loves games and who doesn’t love fun games with math to help alleviate some of that math anxiety? Here are some fun games with math skills that I collected around the internet perfect for kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade kiddos.

Math Flashcard Games

There are math flashcards for counting, basic addition skills, multiplication skills, division skills and I am sure with a good thorough search you can find skills that enforce many kinds of math extra practice.

  • Climb the ladder/Steps
    Make a fake ladder on the floor with masking tape. One student with the flashcards will stand at one end the other student at the other end. The student will show the flashcard, the other student will answer. If they answer correctly they move up on the ladder, if not they go back to the beginning. If you are doing this at home and you have steps you can have your child answer flashcard problems to climb the steps to the top.

  • Card Grab
    Students of 3 or 4 sit in a circle. One person flips over the flash card and the others have to answer as fast as they can, who ever answers first gets the card. The person who does the flipping does not answer but decides who was the quickest. Each person gets a turn to flip the card. Play until all cards are done. Player with most cards wins.

  • Timed Flashcards
    https://www.varsitytutors.com/aplusmath/flashcards

  • Build It, Draw It, or Tell It
    This can be done alone. Students will choose choose a flashcard and use manipulatives to build a model to show the number sentence, they can draw it on a whiteboard or they can tell a story that exemplifies the number sentence. If you want students to tell it, have them record their story on an ipad and share it with you.

Math Dice Games

  • Roll to 100 / 1000
    Students will roll 2 dice and add or multiply the numbers till one person reaches 100. They will write their equation on a paper to keep track.

  • Three Person Fraction
    Each person will get the chance to roll a pair of dice and create a fraction, they will then write this fraction on a piece of scrap paper. Then the three fractions will be arranged from smallest to largest. The person whose fraction is the middle value wins a point. Play till someone gets 10 points.

  • Take it Away
    Students will start with a bowl of cotton balls or other manipulative. Students will roll the dice and take that many cotton balls out of the bowl. Play till no cotton balls remain.

Make Your Own Math Game

Another wonderful activity that students can do with math games is to create their own. Why not make a learning station where students ideate, develop, and create their own math board game?! Here is a wonderful rubric that you can use for students in the game making learning station in your classroom:

https://mathmarquez.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/6/7/37676293/math-game-project.pdf

Fun games with math bring joy to a subject some kids really struggle with. The best way to learn math is to make a game out of it. Actually joy makes learning fun whether it is math, ela or science.