Games

Game: Money Soup

Variations for K & up

**Create your own game based on your own goals and skills.**

Fill a pot with a large variety of coins.
Use a large spoon or small ladle to get a scoop of coins.
Count your coins based on the version of the game you choose, then put the coins back in the pot.
- Coin Race: Sort the coins and graph on a bar graph. Put the coins back after graphing.
- Most Coins: The winner is the person that collects the most coins in their scoop.
- Highest Amount: The winner is the person that collects the most money in their scoop.
- Race to $10/Race to $0: Start at $0 or $10 (or an agreed upon amount). Add or subtract your scoop from your current total.

Game: Multiplication/Addition Touch

1st-6th

**The same board can be used with different sets of number tiles for addition or multiplication.** https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BSzN98d3j5rqxjrlK8fSQj7sNqHsJ5VJ

- Game Prep: Print out the provided game board and print and cut out the game tiles (preferably on card stock or construction paper).

Turn all number tiles upside down and have each player draw 10 tiles. Keep your tiles a secret from other players.
Draw two or three tiles from the draw pile and work together to place them on the game board using the correct multiplication or addition facts.
On your turn, place a tile in the correct spot on the multiplication or addition table. However, the tile must also be touching another tile on the game board. Tiles can touch horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
- A player can also play a wild card on any spot. If another player has the number tile that can replace a wild, they can play their number tile and take the wild for themselves.
- If a player cannot play, they must draw from the pile of face-down tiles.
The winner is the first person to play all the tiles in their hand.

Source: https://craftingagreenworld.com/

Game: Target Os and Xs

1st-6th

Source: https://www.lovemaths.me/games/2020/3/22/target-os-and-xs

Game: Snakes and Ladders

Number Recognition; Forward/Backward Counting; Addition Facts; Multiplication Facts (very modified!)

*If you do not have a snakes and ladders game board, you can find many options as free printables online.

Basic Rules:

Roll the dice and move forward that many spaces.
If you land at the bottom of a ladder, you climb the ladder. If you land at the head of a snake, you slide down.
First person to reach 100 wins.

Modifications:

Number Recognition: When you land on a number, identify the number. Name the numbers that come before and after. Practice writing the number. Draw the number using tens frames. How many full tens frames do you need? How much is on the partially filled tens frame?
Counting: Once you get to your new spot, count forward and backwards between the two numbers. It is important to be able to count on or back from any number. This aids in addition and subtraction ability.
Addition Facts: Roll 2 dice and add them together (especially if you can use dice or spinners that go up to 10 or 12). Instead of counting forward the given number, add that to your current number to find your new location.
Multiplication Facts: Roll 2 dice and multiply them. After you have your multiplication fact, add the two digits together to find how far you can move forward. For instance, if you roll a 3 and 8, you would multiply to get 24, then add the 2 and 4 to get 6 and move forward 6.

What other modifications can you create?

Game: Garbage (Trash) ~ This game is a student favorite.

Number Recognition; Sequencing; Skip Counting; Addition

Need: 1 deck of cards for 2-3 players. Add another deck for each additional 2 people.

Basic Rules:

Each player sets up 10 cards face down in a tens frame (5 on top, 5 on bottom).
The first player draws a card and places it face-up in the correct spot in the tens frame.
- The new card you flipped up now goes to its correct spot.
- Continue this pattern until you flip over a card that you already have. This card is now garbage and is discarded.
The next player can either draw a new card or take the discarded card.
Kings are wild, Jacks and Queens end your turn.
The round ends when one player completes their ten frame.
The next round, the winner of the previous round will drop a card.
The winner is the first person to win with only 1 card in their tens frame.

Modifications:

Do not use the face cards. Play individual rounds with 10 cards, rather than drop down a card each time.
Subitizing: Use dot cards or tens frame cards (if you have the Tiny Polka Dot cards, these are a great resource for this game!)
Sequencing: Make cards with the numbers 1-100. Only make 1 card for each number. When placing the numbers in the tens frame, there can be a gap in the number, but they have to be in the correct order.
Skip Counting: Create 4 sets of cards with skip counting numbers for any set facts. (If working on 4s, make 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40.)
Addition Facts: Use dominoes instead of cards. Add the two sides together to determine where to place the domino. 0 or 1 can be the first spot since there is only 1 domino for 1.

What other modifications can you create?

Game: Penny, Nickel, Dime

Money, Addition, Multiplication, Estimation

Need: 6-sided dice, pencil/paper, pennies/nickels/dimes (optional)

Goal: Be the person to get the closest to $1 without going over.

Basic Rules:

Create a T-Chart with pennies, nickels, dimes as the headings.
Player 1 rolls the dice and takes that many pennies, nickels or dimes. Write down the number you took in the correct column (not the total amount of money).
Player 2 does the same.
Repeat 6 more times. Each time decide whether the number goes in the pennies, nickels, or dimes column.
After all 7 rolls, add up the total amount of money.

Modifications:

Who can get the closest to $1, but allow them to go over.
Change the number of rolls. Talk about how that changes the strategy.
Remove the nickels from the game.
Use physical coins or draw the coins in the columns to aid in the counting.

What other modifications can you create?

Source: https://mathforlove.com

Game: Greedy Pig

Probability, Addition

Target year levels: Any- the older the student, the more advanced the discussion re probability and their decisions will be.

Equipment: 6 sided dice, paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:

“Why did you decide to stop when you did?/ Why did you decide to keep going?”

“Do the numbers you roll influence your decision on when to stop or not? Explain why/why not.”

“What is the chance of rolling a 2?”

“What would you do differently next time you play?”

Source: https://www.lovemaths.me/games

Game: Product Game

Concepts covered: Multiplication and division

Target year levels: Year 3-6

Equipment: Playing board (can download using link below), counters or tokens https://illuminations.nctm.org/uploadedFiles/Content/Lessons/Resources/6-8/Product-OH-GameBoard.pdf

Good questions to ask while playing:

“Why did you choose to make __?”

“Why didn’t you make __? That seems like it would have helped you?”

“Explain to me how you got __?”

“What would you do differently the next time you played?”

Source: https://www.lovemaths.me/games

Game: Heads Up

Addition/Subtraction; Multiplication/Division

3 people, deck of cards - face cards removed.

Rules:

Two people put a card on their forehead without looking at the card.
The third person adds or multiplies the cards together.
The first person to determine the card on their head wins the cards.

Game: Get Out of My House

Concepts covered: Addition and subtraction

Target year levels: Foundation - Year 3

Equipment: Deck of playing cards, paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:

“What’s the other number you can make?” (When kids start playing, they may only focus on what they can make by adding the two cards and fail to consider the subtraction option.)

“Explain to me how you got __?”

“Do you think it is better to add or subtract the two numbers? Why?”

“Is it a good idea to place lots of tokens on the one square? Why/why not?”

“What would you do differently next time you played?”

Source: https://www.lovemaths.me/games

Game: Quick Draw

Instructions:

Choose the multiplication facts you want to work on. Make a deck of 40 cards with index cards by writing the 1st ten multiples out and do this 4 times. For example, 4, 8, 12, all the way to 40.

Deal out fifteen cards from your deck to each player. This becomes each player’s draw pile.
Place two stacks of an additional 5 cards in the center of play.
Each player draws 3 cards from their individual draw pile. This becomes each player’s hand during play.
To start play each player turns over the top card from each stack of 5 cards in the center of play and places it face up.
Players choose a card from their hand that is either a multiple higher or lower than one of the cards in play. Players can play on either stack and place a card as soon as a number from the player’s hand can be played. Players do not take turns.
As soon as a player places a card, that player draws a card from their draw pile so that each player holds 3 cards at all times.
If players cannot play one of the three cards in their hand, then each player turns over the top card from the 5-card pile and places that card face up in play. Play resumes.
The first player that uses all cards from their individual draw pile wins.

Source: https://www.mathrecovery.org/resources/math-recovery/how-to-play-quick-draw

Teaching Number in the Classroom with 4-8-Year-Olds, Dr. Wright et al

Chapter 10, IA10.3, pp. 194

Game: Shut the Box

Ways to play without a game board:

Write the numbers 1-9 on a piece of paper and cross them out rather than putting them down.
Use a deck of cards. Lay out the numbers 1-9 and flip over the cards of the numbers you are using.
Make your own version. Use a dowel rod and clothes pins. Write the numbers 1-9 on the clothespins. Clip them to the dowel rod. Put them all in a box or use another dowel above the clothespins so that when the numbers are up, they have a stopping point.

What other ways can you make a game board? Show me your pictures!

Game: Rowco 2.0

Concepts covered: Addition

Target year levels: Years 1-4

Equipment: Deck of cards

Good questions to ask while playing:

“Why did you choose that card?”

“Why didn’t you choose the __ card?”

“How can we organize our cards so they will easier to add up at the end?” (This might lead to kids placing them in pairs that make ten, or finding pairs of cards that they can easily double, etc.)

“What would you do differently next time you play?”

Shout-out to Paul Swan for teaching me the original version of this game.

Source: https://www.lovemaths.me/games

Game: Farkle

Materials: 6 dice, paper and pencil for each person

Game Play

When it's your turn, roll the 6 Dice. Any Dice that roll off the playing area is rolled again.
After each roll, set aside Dice that are worth points and roll the rest of them. You must remove at least one Die after each roll and keep a running total of your points for that turn.
If you're lucky enough to set aside all 6 Dice you can roll them all again to build your running total.
If you cannot set aside any Dice after a roll, that's a Farkle. You lose your running total of points for that turn, and play passes to the left. A Farkle could happen on your first roll or when you roll the remaining Dice.
To score for the first time, you must have a running total of 500 points before you stop rolling.
After your first score of 500 points or more is recorded, you may stop rolling at any time and have the scorekeeper add your running total for that turn to your accumulated score. Once your points are entered on the score sheet, they are safe, and you cannot lose them.

End of the Game

When a player's accumulated score is 10,000 or more, each player has one last turn to beat that total.

The player with the highest score wins.

Source: https://www.ultraboardgames.com/farkle/nano-game-rules.php

Game: Place Value Pebbles

Concepts covered: Place value, ordering numbers, chance/probability

Target year levels: 1-4

Equipment: 2 x 0-9 dice (or deck of playing cards), paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:

“What numbers can you make?”

“How do you know that goes there?”

“What numbers might go between these two pebbles?”

“What are you hoping to roll? Why?” (This is especially good to use if you get students to roll the dice one at a time)

“What would you do differently next time you play?”

Source: https://www.lovemaths.me/games

Game: Pig

Topics: probability, strategy, addition, estimation

Materials: One 6-sided die, pencil and paper

Roll the dice and collect points. You can go as long as you want, but roll the wrong number and you lose all your points from that turn!

Variations:

Big Pig

This variation is played with two dice. It is like Pig: on your turn you can roll or hold. If you roll a 1, you lose your points for that turn and your turn ends. However, you roll a pair of 1s, add 25 to your turn total. If other doubles are rolled, the player adds twice the value of the dice to the turn total. Play to 150.

Odd Pig Out

Roll two dice and multiply them. You can keep rolling as long as the product is even. If the product is odd, you lose all unbanked points for that turn, and pass the dice. Play to 500.

Source: https://mathforlove.com/lesson/pig/

Questions

There are several central questions in Pig:

Does strategy matter?
If it does, what is the best strategy?

Good questions for the teacher to ask the students:

Do you have a strategy? What is it?
How do you know your strategy works? How could you test it?
What happens when you play your strategy against another student’s different strategy?
Between these two strategies (name two collected from the class), who do you think will win?

Possible student conjectures, true and false, that may arise:

Strategy doesn’t matter. The game is all luck.
Strategy does matter.

Common strategies:

Roll up to a specific value and then stop.
Roll a certain number of times and then stop.
Roll until your total will beat your opponents’ and then stop.

Game: Hundreds Board 4 in a Row

Game: Make a 10 Memory

Concepts covered: Addition

Target year levels: Foundation - Year 3

Equipment: Deck of cards

Good questions to ask while playing:

“What card are you hoping to turn over next?”

“What goes with __ to make ten?”

Source: https://www.lovemaths.me/games

Game: The Tower of 40

Concepts covered: Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

Target year levels:

Year 1 - 2 (use numbers 1-20)

Year 3-4 (numbers 10-50)

Years 5-6 (numbers 20-80)

Equipment: deck of cards, paper and pens

Good questions to ask while playing:

“What other number could you make?’

“Explain to me how you got __?”

“What if you use multiplication (or subtraction etc.)?” (I.e. offer suggestions when students need help but DON’T tell them how to arrive at a number.)

Shout-out to Nash Minas for inventing this game.

Source: https://www.lovemaths.me/games

Game: Make It Texas or Rhode Island Sized

Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X7K1JHtMkhHLjRkSwNY1z1C0PzuJtipY/view

Game: Make 30

Concepts covered: Addition and subtraction

Target year levels: Foundation - Year 4

Equipment: Paper, pencils and counters (or any suitable substitute)

Good questions to ask while playing:

“What goes with __ to make 30?”

““How did you work that pair out?”

Shout-out to Alistair McIntosh and Shelley Dole who created this game.

Source: https://www.lovemaths.me/games

Game: From Here to There

Concepts covered: Addition and subtraction

Target year levels: Foundation - Year 4

Equipment: Deck of cards

Good questions to ask while playing:

“What are you hoping to roll?”

“How did you work that out?”

Source: https://www.lovemaths.me/games

Game: 100 Laughs

Concepts covered: Addition and subtraction

Target year levels: Years 2-5

Equipment: Deck of cards, paper and pencil

Good questions to ask while playing:

“What goes with __ to make 100?”

“What if you changed the first number to __?”

“Why did you change the first number to __?”

“What would you do differently next time you play?”

Shout-out to James Russo for creating this game.

Game: Get to 1,000

Mental math

Supplies: One 10 sided dice or spinner. Score sheet

Play:

1. Players, take turns rolling a dice or spinning a spinner. On each roll, the player decides before rolling if they will multiply by 1, 10, or 100.

2. Each player adds their product to their own accumulating score.

3. If the product will push them over 1,000, the player loses their turn.

4. The winner is the first person to get to 1,000 exactly.

Variations:

- Multiply by 2, 20, or 50.

- Multiply by 2-10 and try to get to 100.

- Multiply by 20-90 (multiples of 10) or 1-9 (not 10 or 100).

- Subtract from 1,000 (or 100) instead of adding to 1,000.

Source: Developing Number Sense. Bresser & Holtzman

Game: Combo Dominoes

Concepts covered: Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

Target year levels: Year 2- 6

Equipment: set of dominoes

Good questions to ask while playing:

“What number are you trying to make now?’

“Explain to me how you got __?”

“What if you use multiplication (or subtraction etc.?” (I.e. offer suggestions when students need help but DON’T tell them how to arrive at a number.)

“What if you tried that domino?”

Shout-out to Paul Swan for introducing this game to me.

Source: https://www.lovemaths.me/games

Game: The In-Between Game

Concepts covered: Probability, ordering numbers

Target year levels: Foundation - Year 3

Equipment: Deck of cards, counters (20 per player)

Good questions to ask while playing:

“How many chances have you got of getting a card in-between __ and __? How many chances have you got of not getting a card in between?”

“Can you describe your chance of getting an in-between card? Why?”

“Why did you choose to play __ counters?”

“What would you do differently next time you play?”

Source: https://www.lovemaths.me/games

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Games

Game: Money Soup

Game: Multiplication/Addition Touch

Game: Target Os and Xs

Game: Snakes and Ladders

Game: Garbage (Trash) ~ **This game is a student favorite.**

Game: Penny, Nickel, Dime

Game: Greedy Pig

Game: Product Game

Game: Heads Up

Game: Get Out of My House

Game: Quick Draw

Instructions:

Game: Shut the Box

Game: Rowco 2.0

Game: Farkle

Game: Place Value Pebbles

Game: Pig

Game: Hundreds Board 4 in a Row

Game: Make a 10 Memory

Game: The Tower of 40

Game: Make It Texas or Rhode Island Sized

Game: Make 30

Game: From Here to There

Game: 100 Laughs

Game: Get to 1,000

Game: Combo Dominoes

Game: The In-Between Game

Game: Garbage (Trash) ~ This game is a student favorite.