Math Games for Elementary School Children

Math games can be fun and enriching.

Learning math can be tough for elementary school children. Children can review math through playing games. Games such as Odd Man Out, Multiplication War, Around the World and Dice Difference help to make learning fun.

Odd Man Out

One game that helps elementary school children learn odd and even numbers is Odd Man Out. The game is suitable for any number of players. To play the game, you will need a small candy, such as a jelly bean. Before the game begins, give each child 10 candies. To begin the game, the leader calls out a number from one to 10. The children count out the called number in candies. Each child groups the selected candies into pairs of "buddies," until no more pairs can be made. The leader explains to the children if every candy has a buddy, then the called number is even. If there is a piece of candy without a buddy, then the called number is odd, and the children should raise the candy in the air and exclaim, "Odd man out!" The leader should call out a mix of odd and even numbers to ensure the concept is sufficiently covered.

Multiplication War

Multiplication War is played by two players and requires one deck of playing cards. Before the game begins, remove all four jacks, all four queens and any jokers from the deck of cards. In this game, the cards are face value, except for the kings, which are assigned the value of 11, and the aces, which are assigned the value of 12. To set up play, the deck should be shuffled and split into two equal piles of cards laid face down. Each player is given one pile of cards. The players simultaneously flip over their pile's top card. The first player to yell out the product of the two flipped cards wins the match. Each time a player wins a match, they pick up the two flipped cards and make their own pile of won matches. Should both players yell out the product simultaneously, the match is a tie and the two flipped cards should be placed in a separate tie pile. Once the players have exhausted their original card piles, they should count the number of cards in their win pile. The player with the most cards in the win pile is the winner.

Around the World

Around the World is a game used to teach addition facts. The game is played with a group of five to 30 children and a set of addition facts flash cards is required to play. The children should sit in a circle, and one child chosen to be "it" first. That child should stand behind the person directly to their left. The leader stands in the middle of the circle and holds up an addition fact flash card for the two children to answer. The child who responds first moves to the next child on the left. The game is over when one child moves all the way around the circle.

Treasure Hunt

Treasure Hunt is another fun math game. Before the game begins, write the numbers one through 10 as words on separate index cards. Also, hang the actual numbers randomly around the room. To play, give the child a card with a number written as a word; for example, "four." Have the child find the number 4 on the wall in the room. This will help the child correlate the written number with the actual number.

Resources

• Enchanged Learning Math