Prime & Composite Numbers Games for Fifth Graders
An important topic in fifth grade math classes involves differentiating between prime numbers and composite numbers. Primes, such as the number 11, have only two natural number divisors: 1, and the number itself. Composites, such as the number 12, have multiple natural number divisors. Be sure to give your students a proper foundation in differentiating between the two, but make your classroom environment as fun and engaging as possible, by introducing prime and composite number games.
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Buddies
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Make a set of playing cards, in which half of the cards are prime numbers and half of the cards are composites. Distribute one card to each student, and have him rotate around the room, and compare cards with other students until he finds a composite number "buddy," with a composite number card that is a multiple of the prime number. Have each pair come up to the board, and present the factorization of the composite number.
War
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Separate your students into pairs, and give each a set of prime and composite number cards. Have the class play "War" with the card. Each student should each factorize the number on each card, writing out every divisor that that number has. The number 12, for instance, can be factorized as 1, 12, 2, 6, 3, 4. The owner of card containing the number with more factors should take both cards. The students should continue playing until the end of the class period, or until one of the students runs out of cards.
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Monopoly
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Distribute a set of cards to your students, and have the class use the cards to move around a Monopoly game board. Students should play in pairs or groups of three, and should factor the number on the card. If a student gets a prime number, she should move forward by the value of the prime number, and if she get a composite number, she should factor it down to its smallest factor greater than two and move forward by the value of that factor. This will help your students to differentiate between prime and composite numbers in a fun, pressure-free way.
Jeopardy
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Make a jeopardy game board, with poster board and index cards. On each of the index cards, write simple math problems that result in either prime or composite numbers. Divide your class into two teams, and have each team take turns selecting and answering questions. The teams should solve the math problems, tell you whether the result is prime or composite, and, if the result is composite, factor the composite number. Give the team that wins the most points a prize.
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