Math activities involve kids in something fun that happens to build in practice of a math skill along the way.  When kids go back to “regular math” worksheets and problem solving after these fun activities, regular math is easier because of the skills they’ve practiced.  Math activities are a fun way to make math less painful.

Math activities for young children can be simple and indirect like dot to dots and color by numbers for counting and number recognition.  They can also be more explicit and hands-on such as counting M & M’s onto a plate, then counting backwards as they eat them one by one.  Another great math activity for young children is “Mother May I”.  With this activity, … Read the rest of this post…

There are many great math games designed to teach multiplication. Some use multiplication flash cards to help kids learn their math facts.  Others offer straight up quizzing alone or with a partner.  Then there is the race against time and even group games.

“Quiz Race” is a great math game that adds a competitive edge to traditional partner work with multiplication flash cards.  Students pair off and sit on the floor with one student holding a deck of multiplication flash cards for a partner quickly says the answer to each problem.  Correctly answered cards are dropped to the floor, but incorrectly answered cards must be returned to the deck, causing a time penalty.  When all the cards are successfully used … Read the rest of this post…

Hands on kindergarten math games are the most natural way for children to master pre-math skills, rather than pencil and paper exercises.  Skills such as the concept of patterning, equivalency, comparative size, or of course the skill of counting are learned easily with fun games.  Here are a few ideas for great kindergarten math games for kids learning these various pre-math skills.

For the skill of patterning, play “Guess What Comes Next.”  The teacher draws a pattern on the board – as simple as circle, triangle, circle, triangle, or as intricate as rabbit, cat, dog, rabbit, cat, dog.  The student then must guess what comes next and draw the correct shape or animal in the row.  Then it can be … Read the rest of this post…

A fun math game for students is sudoku.  These logic puzzles look a bit like magic squares.  The most common form is a square composed of nine smaller 9×9 grids.  The puzzle is completed by filling each grid with the numbers one through nine, such that no number is repeated in any small grid, any vertical column, or any horizontal row.  A few numbers are given, making each puzzle unique.

There are other forms of the sudoku puzzles that use larger or smaller squares.  A particularly challenging version contains five separate squares that overlap at one of the small grids.  An easier version uses a six by six square, containing smaller 3×2 grids.  This smaller puzzle uses the digits one … Read the rest of this post…

Math games teach kids that math can be lots of fun! Early elementary students can actually practice important math facts at the same time that they have a great time with their friends. Older children can enjoy Sudoku puzzles or other mathematical tricks.

If you are a parent trying to homeschool math you have probably found math games are the best way to keep a child’s interest going. And every teacher knows what a blessing math games are in the classroom. They can get kids out of their chairs for a few minutes of what feels like playtime, but they are learning important division or multiplication or fraction facts.

Pizza Party Fractions game comes in a cute “pizza delivery” box … Read the rest of this post…

There are a number of early elementary math concepts that require swift and perfect recall in order for students to continue to have success.  By 4^th grade, most of these concepts have been covered – basic addition and subtraction facts, multiplication and division tables – but most students could still use a little help in the area of swift and perfect recall.  Teachers with good reason might prefer to spend class time advancing into new territory, and students might become bored and feel babied by lessons that repeatedly focus on the same early elementary concepts.  But they do need the practice.

Math games for 4th grade students are the answer.  Through regular playing of math games which require them … Read the rest of this post…

There are all sorts of fun preschool math games you can play with kids.  At that age from birth to kindergarten children grow and progress so rapidly.  The games they play teach them things such as recognizing shapes and colors; counting to ten; recognizing bigger and smaller or more and less; and gaining an understanding of before, after, and in between.

Preschoolers love to listen to and sing little counting songs or nursery rhymes such as “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” or “The Ants Go Marching One by One” or “One Little Two Little Three Little Indians.”  Even cute little baby preschool math games such as “This Little Piggie Went to Market” are teach math concepts such as order and … Read the rest of this post…

Kindergarten students love to play games.  Math games are a great way to help them practice basic skills such as the names of numbers, counting, colors, spatial relations, matching, and sorting.  There are all kinds of math games kindergarten students enjoy that you can use in your classroom, whether at home or in a school.

For starters, pencil and paper math games kindergarten students like are dot-to-dots and color-by-number.  These will have children practicing counting as well as number recognition and the names of colors.  Students love seeing the complete image emerge from funny looking combinations of lines as they connect the numbered dots in the right order or color the right sections. There are all kinds of these available … Read the rest of this post…