Math Games
Practicing Your Math Facts
Many students struggle with their recollection of times-tables, and are slow with their mental arithmetic skills. For most students, all that is required is practice.
If students are fast at their mental arithmetic skills then they are likely to experience the following (incomplete) list of benefits:
more likely to follow the teacher during class lessons
able to complete their homework more quickly
able to focus their attention on the new concepts instead of the arithmetic
greater confidence in class
less dependent on their calculator
Drill sheets or flash cards are one approach and although some students benefit from this approach, many students find games more enjoyable. The biggest benefit of playing games is that it’s family time and can be made to be fun! Try the following:
On my homepage, at the bottom are some links to worksheet sites and game sites. My favourites are the Cyberchase games.
Apps that run on Apple Products and Smart Phones
There are many versions of apps to practice different math skills. One producer of apps that I am familiar with are by MATHTAPPERS. Produced by education researchers at the University of Victoria, BC, these are free, and are designed to target critical skills needed for mathematical success. http://www.mathtappers.com/
Card Games
WAR
This classic card game is easily adapted to practice a wide variety of arithmetic skills. Use a standard deck of playing cards and use just that part of the deck that you want ... work towards using the whole deck.
Ace = 1 , two = 2 ... ten = 10 , jack = 11 , queen = 12 , king = 13
1. Deal out all the cards. Players keep the cards in their hand, in a pile and do not look at them.
2. Each person flips over their top 2 cards and multiplies the numbers together. They each state their product (the answer to the multiplication).
3. The player with the largest product wins all the cards for the round.
4. Play the next round by flipping over 2 more cards. Play continues until one player has all the cards.
5. If 2 or more players have the same product, they go to WAR. Each of the tied players lay 3 cards face-down, then 2 more cards face-up. Multiply the face-up cards and the larger product wins all the cards. If 2 or more players are still tied, continue to go to WAR until one player wins the round.
6. When your dealt pile of cards is finished, shuffle your winnings pile and this becomes your hand.
If your child has a hard time remembering some of their times-tables, you can help them in the following ways:
Encourage them to skip-count or count-up
example: for 4 x 8 they can count up by 4’s or 8’s ... 4,8,12,16,20,24,28,32 or 8,16,24,32
Encourage them to use a related fact to get the hard one
example: for 7 x 8 they can use 7 x 4 = 28 and double it, or use 6 x 8 = 48 and add 1 more group of 8, or use 8 x 8 = 64 and subtract 1 group of 8, or 7 x 2 = 14 and then double it and double it again, or ...
Encourage them to make a rhyme or poem for the number facts that they find hard to remember. There are songs and poems for many number facts that you can find on the internet.
The game of WAR is easily adapted to other math skills. Some ideas are:
Add the 2 numbers and the one with the biggest sum wins
Subtract the 2 numbers and the one with the smallest (or biggest) difference wins
The bigger number divided by the smaller number and the one with the biggest (or smallest) remainder wins
The smaller number “over” the larger number and the one with the biggest fraction wins (to compare the size of fractions, have a calculator handy and use the decimal representation of the fraction to compare them if necessary)
For integer arithmetic skills, let the red cards be positive and black be negative (or vice versa) and then multiply/add/subtract the cards in the order they are flipped. Decide if you’re playing the biggest result or smallest result wins.
DOMINOS
These can be used to practice fraction addition.
Place all the tiles face up. Player A chooses 1 tile, then player B chooses 2 tiles that add to the same value. Then player B chooses 1 tile and player A chooses 2 tiles that add to that amount. Note: you can decide that each tile is less than or equal to 1, or you can decide that each tile can be right-side up or upside-down ... 2|5 can be interpreted as 2÷5 or 5÷2. This activity can be adapted by changing the number of tiles that you choose to get a given total, or the more tiles you use the more points you get, ...
Concentration: With the tiles face down, turn over 2 tiles. If they are equivalent (like 2|3 and 4|6) then you keep them and take another turn. Note: Not all tiles can be paired.
Puzzles are a great past-time. It builds the skills of patience and pattern recognition ... looking for subtle details of shape and complementary shape.
Playing any game is beneficial. To win requires the learning of a set of rules, and the development of strategic thinking and the balancing of risk versus reward (which involves the estimation of probabilities).
So have fun with your family, have a game night and do some math together!