- Thursday 27 August 2020
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Ever struggled to keep your class focused? Can’t manage to convince them that math can be fun? Try switching things up with some educational maths games!
Learning through play is a great way to keep your kids engaged, encourage active learning, and teach important topics without having to worry about them drifting off after a long day.
Math games can help turn a tricky subject into a bundle of fun. Spark their attention, get them excited, and put some energy back into the classroom, all while helping advance their learning. And don’t miss our exciting new maths games freebie – bringing the fun back to math fundamentals!
We’ve put together a list of simple, educational math games that you can play with your kids at home or in the classroom. Add some excitement to their learning with our favourite math games – they’re bound to have lots of fun!
'Take Off'
A great game for practicing addition & subtraction, this all-inclusive game doesn’t require any props, and can be played in a whole bunch of different exciting ways!
Number of Players: Ideally 5 or more, but a minimum of two (can include you)
Materials: None – just your kids!
How To Play;
- First, decide what you’ll be practicing - addition, subtraction, or both
- Get your kids into a line or circle, and select a starting point for the game
- Starting from 0, if adding, or 100, if subtracting, the first student picks a number between 1-9, and calls out the answer to a sum, either adding or subtracting the number
- 0 + 7 = 7!
- The next student then continues this, choosing a number between 1-9 and adding it to the previous student’s total
- 7 + 9 = 16, 16 + 2 = 18, 18 + 6 = 24…..
- This continues around each student until finally you reach your chosen end number!
This simple game encourages quick mental maths, while helping to improve your student’s addition & subtraction skills! What’s great about this game is that it can be tailored however you like – you can make it harder, add some competition, and mix it up to keep your kids engaged for even longer!
Extra Tips
- Try splitting your students into even teams and make it a race from start to finish!
- Test addition AND subtraction – when your kids reach the limit, have them reverse it and start going the other way!
- Set a time limit, pick and end point, and make it a race against the clock!
A simple game with countless variations to keep it exciting – ‘Take Off’ is a fantastic way to show your kids that math really can be fun!
Number Patterns
A simple, quick math game for all ages – ‘Number Patterns’ can help improve your kids’ problem solving, mental maths & pattern recognition skills. Plus, it’s simple to setup, and takes very little time to play! Perfect for the classroom or at home.
Number of Players: Ideally 5-6, but you can play with any number!
Materials: Any writing implements, like a pen & paper or a whiteboard
How To Play
- Pick any mathematical sequence of numbers and write it out on the board – but make sure to keep a few spaces blank
- Once you’re ready, let each student take turns trying to work out one of the numbers in the sequence – have one write the next number on the board, then another, so on & so forth
- Keep going until all the numbers are filled in, then ask the kids what the pattern was – did they get it right?
- Was every number double the previous? Was it ‘add two-minus one-add two? Pick any pattern you think will be good for practice!
This is another simple game that can be mixed up every time to keep things fresh. You can give younger kids simple patterns, and older ones more complex problems – you’re free to change things up every time you play!
Countless variations can keep your kids engaged time & time again – so don’t be afraid to mix things up for some extra fun practice!
Extra Tips
- You don’t have to go one sequence at a time. Write out 3-4 patterns on the board, and keep the game going until every blank has been filled in correctly!
- Students can do it solo with their own pen & paper, to encourage independent problem solving and make sure everyone is learning equally!
Higher or lower
A simple, quick, easy math game that encourages cooperation and quick-thinking, ‘Higher or Lower’ can help turn any 10 minute lull into an engaging mental maths lesson!
Number of Players: Can be played with any number, but requires a minimum of 2
Materials: None!
How To Play
- Select one of your students – their job is to select a number between 0 - 1000
- This range can be adjusted however you like. 0 – 100, 0 – 5000 etc.
- The mission for the rest of your class is to cooperate in order to correctly work out that students number through a process of elimination!
- One at a time, each of your students calls out a number between 0 – 1000, and the student hiding the number has to respond by telling the class ‘higher’ or ‘lower’
- One by one, you go round the class, calling out new numbers each time, until eventually the class works out exactly what number has been chosen!
- The student that makes the correct guess then gets to take the next turn in choosing the hidden number – continue this for as many rounds as you like!
A simple game that can be used to eat up some time, ‘Higher or Lower’ is a great math game for helping kids practice their problem solving skills! Plus, it’s another game that can be mixed up in all sorts of ways, so you can always keep your group excited & engaged!
Snake
A great simple game that gets the whole group involved, ‘Snake’ can be used to help improve mental maths & numerical skills at any age!
Materials: Writing tools – pens & paper or a whiteboard
Number of Players: Play with any number of students, but requires a minimum of two
How To Play:
- Take a whiteboard marker, and ready yourself by the board
- One at a time, go round the classroom or group and have every student call out a number between 1-9
- Each time a number is called out, your job is to write it down on the board, until every student has called out a number
- In between each number, write down a ‘+’ or ‘-‘, so your end result looks something like this à 1 + 2 – 1 + 8 + 9 + 4 – 7 – 3 + 4……
- Once every number is written down, you’ve got your ‘snake’ – now the job of your students is to work out what the final answer is!
- Starting on the left side, hop between each number, calling out the sum as you go, and getting your students to call out the ongoing answer each time
- “1 + 2” – “3”, ‘+7”, “10”…….
- Keep doing this until you get to the end of your snake, then write down the final answer the students have given you. Did they get it right?
Extra Tips
- For older years, you can raise the difficulty by adding in other symbols such as multiplication or division
- Turn it into a friendly competition – rather than get the whole group shouting together, go around the class one by one, and each time someone makes a mistake, they have to sit down! Keep going until there’s only a few students left, then go again with everyone!
A fun, quick game that can help improve cooperation, as well as mental maths & numerical skills, ‘Snake’ takes a simple concept and turns it into something with endless opportunities!
Secret Strategy
Turn things up a notch, and help improve your students’ multiplication skills with a fun method for learning the different times tables!
Materials: Ideally a whiteboard & marker, but you can play without any at all!
Number of Players: Can be played with any number of kids, including just one (plus their teacher)
How To Play:
- Pick a set of times tables between 1 – 9 that you want to practice, and write that number on the whiteboard in front of the class
- Stand in front of the class, and go around the group one by one. Start with your hands behind your back, then on each student’s turn, quickly whip out your hands and show them how many fingers you’re holding up
- If you’re practicing 5 times tables, and show a student 6 fingers, their job is to quickly work out the answer to 5 x 6, and call out the answer
- If they get it wrong, they’re out until the next round!
- Keep going around the class until every student has had a go – how many got their question correct?
- You can keep going round until there’s only one student left, or start a new round every time – there’s plenty of ways to mix things up!
Another brilliantly simple game, ‘Secret Strategy’ requires little setup and only a small amount of time, making it the perfect game for fitting in some daily practice.
It’s great for learning times tables, can be adjusted for any ages, and helps improve your students’ quick thinking and mental math skills. Remember all those hours we had to spent staring at a chart full of numbers to learn our times tables? I bet you wish your teacher had done something like this instead!
We hope these fun math games give you some inspiration and ideas for next time you’re in the classroom! Put some fun back into your kids’ learning, and watch as their fundamental math skills start to improve in no time!
Get out there, and start making math fun!
Enjoyed this blog? Check out our fantastic new maths games freebie, and our previous posts on making maths fun with Pi Day lesson ideas, and our free dice activities sample pack.