Let’s Play Math!

Math concepts: multiplication, mental calculation, times table
Number of players: one leader (teacher) and two or more players
Equipment: free MINGO number cards and boards; bingo chips, pennies, or other tokens to cover numbers

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Photo by jaycoxfilm.

Math concepts: mental calculations, math vocabulary, and anything else you want to include
Number of players: any number, but I think it works best with two players who alternate asking questions
Equipment: imagination and, if necessary, scratch paper

Many years ago, I read a magazine article by mathematical music critic Edward Rothstein, wherein he described a game he invented for his daughter:

“What number am I? If you add me to myself, you get four.”

Rather than explaining the rules of the game, let me tell you a story…

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Photo by paparutzi.

Math concepts: addition, subtraction, negative numbers, mental math, absolute value
Number of players: any number
Equipment: math cards (two decks may be needed for a large group)

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Math concepts: odd numbers, even numbers, greater-than/less-than, rounding off, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, negative numbers, prime numbers, square numbers, problem solving, mental math
Number of players: two or more
Equipment: pencil (or pen) and paper for every player

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Math concepts: slope, logical strategy
Number of players: 2 or more
Equipment: 4×4 or larger grid, pebbles or other tokens to mark squares

Set up

Alexandria Jones and her brother Leon played Avoid Three with pebbles on a grid scratched in the sand, but you can also use pencils or markers on graph paper. You need a rectangular playing area at least 4×4 squares large. The bigger your grid, the longer your game.

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Photo by Sister72.

Dave at MathNotations offers another version of Nim that will give your students something to think about:

[1,2]-3-[4,5]-6-[7,8]…21 Helping Children Devise and Understand Winning Strategies

• Math club Nim
• Hundred chart Nim

Math concepts: subtraction within 100, number patterns, mental math
Number of players: 2 or 3
Equipment: printed hundred chart (also called a hundred board), and highlighter or translucent disks to mark numbers — or use this online hundred chart

Set up

Place the hundred chart and highlighter where all players can reach them.

How to play

• Allow the youngest player choice of moving first or second; in future games, allow the loser of the last game to choose.
• The first player chooses a number from 1 to 100 and marks that square on the hundred chart.
• The second player chooses and marks any other number.
• On each succeeding turn, the player subtracts any two marked numbers to find and mark a difference that has not yet been taken.
• Play alternates until no more numbers can be marked.

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Math concepts: addition and subtraction within 100, logical strategy
Number of players: 2 or 3
Equipment: printed hundred chart (also called a hundred board) and beans, pennies, or other tokens with which to mark numbers — or use this online hundred chart

Set up

Place the hundred chart and a small pile of tokens where both players can reach them.

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Are you looking for ways to unschool math? You and your children can learn a lot by playing around with a hundred chart (also called a hundred board). Here are a few ideas to get you started:

(1) Use it as a number line to do addition and subtraction beyond what your child can handle mentally. Develop mental math skills by showing how to add or subtract the tens first (counting up or down) then the ones (counting left or right.)

(2) Look for addition and subtraction patterns. 5+7=? Now go to 25+7, 35+7, 65+7. What do you notice? What do 13-6, 23-6, 53-6, etc. have in common? Find other patterns.

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Math concepts: logic, patterns, divisibility
Number of players: 2
Equipment: 10 tokens, any sort, mix or match

Set up

Place the pile of tokens (pebbles, toothpicks, beans, pennies, dry cereal, etc.) on the table between the players.

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Math concepts: addition, number bonds to 10, visual memory
Number of players: any number, mixed ages
Equipment: math cards, one deck

Set up

Each player draws a card, and whoever choses the highest number will go first. Then shuffle the cards and lay them all face down on the table, spread out so no card covers any other card. There are 40 cards in a deck, so you can make a neat array with five rows of eight cards each, or you may scatter them at random.

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Many of the games on this blog call for Math Cards. You do not need to look for these in stores or in your school supply catalog. Math cards are simply a modified deck of normal, poker-style playing cards. Remove all face cards and jokers from the deck, leaving the ace through ten of each suit.

Using the ace as a one, this gives you four sets of numbers 1-10, and you will be ready to play your way to fluency in almost any arithmetical topic: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, greater-than/less-than, fractions, negative numbers, and more.

Card holder for young hands

Little hands often have trouble holding more than a few cards at a time. Your child may enjoy making and using a card holder.

Save the plastic lids from two margarine tubs or similar containers. Place the lids together, top to top. Line up the edges, then staple them together, putting two or three staples near the center of the lids. Let your child decorate the card holder with stickers, if desired.

To use the card holder, slip playing cards between the two lids and fan them out. The lids will hold the cards upright, so the child can easily see them all.

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Related Posts: games for learning math, preschool and early-elementary arithmetic