Math Games for Kids

Math Games for Kids of Elementary Age

Kids in elementary school are usually eager to learn when it’s fun. Math concepts for elementary school children can enforce skills in:

• Basic and advanced addition and subtraction
• Fractions and ratios
• Decimals and place values
• Measurement
• Geometry concepts
• Multiplication
• Division
• Problem solving/logic
• Estimation
• Charts and graphs
• Number sets and subsets
• Time and money
• Sequences
• Probability

What’s in Your Game Closet?

Although there are a number of wonderful educational games on the market designed to teach specific skills, parents may be surprised at the games they already own that use and help teach math. Games such as Yahtzee, Monopoly, Trouble, Sorry, Chinese Checkers, Chess, Battleship, and many other classic board games are ideas for math fun.

Kids’ Games Made for Learning Math

There are also a number of card games, board games for kids, and even kids’ travel games designed to teach specific mathematical concepts, including:

• Tangram puzzles – geometry
• Math bingo – may use addition, subtraction, multiplication, or other facts
• Fraction puzzles – many use items of food such as pizza or pies
• For addition and subtraction, try Sum Swamp for younger elementary schoolers and Quizmo for kids 9 and over
• Smath: A multi-level game that can be used for beginning or advanced players for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division

For more math games for kids, visit an educational store such as EduMart or Scholastic.com in person or online.

Math Games for Kids Online

The Internet is more accessible than ever, and there are thousands of sites that offer math games for kids to play online. To help narrow down your choices, the following are several math game sites with no or minimal advertising:

• Cyberchase math games from PBS Kids
• Houghton Mifflin’s Edu-place Math-O-Rama
• FunBrain: This educational game site offers flash math arcade or classic fun games like online math baseball.
• Math Magician: Online games at different levels for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.
• Rain Forest Maths: Rainforest–themed math games for grades K-6.
• US Mint for Kids: Online games to help kids learn about money from the government mint website.
• NRICH Maths: A math enrichment site by the University of Cambridge, this site offers games and puzzles on math and logic as well as educator’s resources.

Math Games for Younger Kids

Preschool age children can grasp many math concepts, but their short attention spans sometimes get in the way. Short, simple math games are great for younger kids.

Concepts for Games

Games for preschool and younger children can help teach basic math and logic, such as:

• Orally counting numbers
• Counting objects
• Recognizing and writing numbers
• Concept of more and less (prerequisite for addition and subtraction)
• Concept of empty and full
• Basic time concepts

Parents should keep in mind that each child progresses at his or her own pace. Some preschoolers are ready for more advanced concepts, while others may struggle with the basics. While it’s great to keep encouraging your child, parents can do sometimes do more harm than good worrying about education. Alicia Bayer writes on this subject in her wonderful article What Should a 4 Year Old Know?.

Easy Math Games for Preschoolers

Easy math games for kids of preschool age include:

• Find the Number: Preschoolers love to play hide and seek, and you can easily turn this favorite game into an opportunity to enforce math skills. Write a number on an index card, and play hot and cold with the child/ren to find the number. Then have players find that many of a certain item, blocks, paperclips, etc.

*Super Sorting: Using muffin tins, measuring cups, or other small containers, have the child sort small, like items into designated numbered containers (use a piece of masking tape or a sticky note to number). Example items include buttons, puzzle pieces, plastic poker chips.

• Snack Stacks: Turn snack time into a math time with a simple counting game. Give preschool children flat or square shaped snacks that can be stacked, and have them count correctly to a certain number as they stack to win their ‘prize’ of eating their stack. Good foods for this game include crackers, graham crackers, thin slices of fruit, and cheese. Have the children count the remaining number as they eat to enforce the concept of subtraction.

• Measurement Madness: Allow the child to experiment with colored water and clear plastic cups by dumping various amounts of liquid in different cups. Talk about the difference between a cup that is full, a cup that is empty, almost empty, half full, etc.

There are also a variety of online preschool math games, from sites like:

• Fisher Price
• Noggin.com
• Sesame Street Workshop
• Lego.com

For any age, math games for kids can be fun and help children catch on to or reinforce the math skills they need.