Listed below are math games that you can play at home with your child. Your
children love these games and play them in the classroom.
Games are an excellent tool to help master math concepts. Children typically
find playing these games a more motivating way to study facts than just
drilling traditional flashcards.
Most games use a deck of numbered cards. These cards can also be made using a
regular deck of cards. Here is how to make a deck to be used in these games.
1. Label the four Aces as 1.
2. Label the four Jacks as 0.
3. Label the Kings, Queens, and Jokers as one each of 11 - 20.
Have fun!
TOP-IT
Materials: Number Cards 0-10 (4 each)
Skill: Comparing numbers
Directions
1. Shuffle cards and place the deck number side down on the table.
2. Each player turns over 1 card and says the number on it.
3. The player with the larger number takes both cards. If both cards show the
same number, each player turns over another card. The player with the larger
number then takes all 4 cards for that round.
ADDITION TOP-IT
Materials: Number Cards 0-10 (4 each)
Skill: Addition Facts 0 to 10
Directions
1. Shuffle Cards and place the deck number side down on the table.
2. Each player turns over 2 cards, adds them together, and calls out the sum
of the numbers.
3. The player with the largest sum wins the round and takes all of the cards.
4. In case of a tie, each player put two more cards face down and turns over
the third. The player with the highest number wins and takes all the cards.
SUBTRACTION TOP-IT
Materials: Number Cards 0-10 (4 each)
Skill: Subtraction Facts 0 to 10
Directions
1. Shuffle Cards and place the deck number side down on the table.
2. Each player turns over 2 cards and subtracts the smaller number from the
larger number.
3. The player with the largest difference takes all of the cards.
4. In case of a tie, each player put two more cards face down and turns over
the third. The player with the highest number wins and takes all the cards.
BEAT THE CALCULATOR
Materials: Number Cards 0-9 (4 each)
Skill: Mental Addition
Directions
1. One player is “Caller”. One player is “Calculator”. One player is “Brain”.
2. Shuffle and place deck number side down.
3. Caller draws 2 cards and asks for the sum of the numbers.
4. “Calculator” solves with a calculator and “Brain” solves it without.
“Caller” decides who answers first.
DIGIT GAME
Materials: Number Cards 0-9 (4 each)
Skill: Making and Comparing Numbers
Directions
1. Shuffle Cards and place the deck number side down on the table.
2. Each player draws 2 cards and uses them to make the largest –digit number.
Each player calls out their number.
3. The player with the larger number takes all 4 cards.
4. The game is over when all cards have been used. The player with more cards
wins.
5. For a challenge make 3-digit numbers.
BEFORE AND AFTER
Materials: Number Cards 0-10 (4 each)
Skill: Identifying numbers that are 1more or 1 less
Directions
1. Shuffle Cards and place the deck number side down on the table.
2. Deal 6 cards to each player and place 2 cards number-side up. Put the rest
of the deck number side down.
3. Players take turns. When it is your turn:
4. Look for any number in your hand that comes before or after one of the
numbers on the table. Put it on top of the number. Play as many cards as you can.
5. Take as many cards as you need from the deck so that you have 6 cards again.
6. If you can’t play any cards when it is your turn, place 2 cards from the
deck on top of the 2 numbers on the table. Try to play cards from your hand
again. If you can’t your turn is over.
7. The game is over when all cards have been taken from the deck or no one can
play any more cards.
8. The player holding fewer cards wins.
FACT EXTENSION GAME
Materials: Number Cards 0-9 (4 each), 1 six-sided die, 1 paper
Skill: Sums of 2-digit numbers and multiples of 10
Directions
1. Shuffle Cards and place the deck number side down on the table.
2. Each player draws 2 cards from the deck and makes the larger 2-digit number.
3. Players take turns rolling the die and making another 2-digit number by
using the number on the die in the tens place and a zero in the ones place.
4. Each player adds his or her 2 numbers and records the sum on a sheet of paper.
5. After 4 rounds, players use a calculator to find the total of their 4 sums.
Highest total wins.
NAME THAT NUMBER
Materials: Number Cards 0-20 (4 each 0-10 and 1 each 11-20)
Skill: Using addition and subtraction to name equivalent numbers
Directions
1. Shuffle Cards and place 5 cards number-side up on the table. Leave the rest
number-side down and turn over the top card nest to the deck. The number on
this card is the “target number”.
2. Player take turns. When it is your turn:
a. Try to name the target number by adding or subtracting the numbers on 2 or
more of the 5 cards that are number-side up. A card may be used only once for
each turn.
b. If you can name the target number, take the cards you used to name it. Also
take the target-number card. Then replace all the cards you took by drawing
from the top of the deck.
c. If you cannot name the target number, your turn is over. Turn over the top
card of the deck and lay it down on the target-number pile. The number on this
card is the new target number.
3. Play continues until all of the cards in the deck have been turned over.
The player who has taken the most cards wins.
3, 2, 1 GAME
Materials: 1 paper, 1 pencil per player (different color each helps)
Skill: Mental Subtraction
Directions
1. Write 21 at the top of the sheet of paper.
2. Players take turns. When it is your turn, subtract 1, 2, or 3 from the last
number written on the paper.
3. The first player who subtracts and gets 0 as the answer wins the game.
MONEY TOSS
Materials: cup of coins, box or paper with large circle
Skill: Adding Coins
Directions
1. Toss coins onto the game board circle.
2. Total the value of the coins that land in the circle.
3. Return coins to the film canister and try again.
Questions You Can Ask Your Child:
• How can you order the coins to make it easier to count?
• Is this roll more or less than the last round?
• Can you have more coins in the circle but have them be worth less?
BIG BEAN TOSS
Materials: Two-colored beans, cup, paper and pencil
Skill: Adding numbers to 10
Directions
1. Count out 10 beans and put them in the cup.
2. Toss the beans.
3. Count how many red and white beans there are.
4. Write an equation for the roll * red beans + white beans = total beans.
Questions You Can Ask Your Child:
• If I tell you how many red beans, can you figure out the white beans without
counting them?
• Can you play the same game with more beans?
• If I change the total number of beans, how would you figure it out??
TENS
Materials: 2-4 Players, deck of number cards 1-9
Skill: Adding numbers to 10
Directions
1. Shuffle the cards and place 9 cards face up in a 3-by-3 array.
2. Player 1 looks for any pair of numbers that equal 10. Keep the pair, then
replace missing cards.
3. Play continues until all the cards have been dealt and no more 10s can be
found.
4. The player with the most pairs is the winner.
Questions You Can Ask Your Child:
• Do you see any patterns?
• Can you say an equation for the cards you chose?
BEANS
Materials: 2 - 5x10 playing boards (using 2-cm grid paper), 2 dice, 50 beans each
Skill: Adding numbers
Directions
1. The first player rolls the dice, takes beans equaling the total number on
the two dice, and places the beans on his playing board.
2. The first player to fill up his playing board is the winner.
Questions You Can Ask Your Child:
• How many beans do you have now? How many more do you need?
• Do you have to add on each bean one at a time? Can you combine beans in a
row to make it easier to add them on?
• Would you be able to play the same game starting with a full board and take
beans off when you roll?
PLACE VALUE
Materials: Create a mat with Hundreds, Tens, Ones Place, 1-9 die, 20 cubes,
one long (which represents 10 cubes)
Skill: Adding and subtracting to 10, Regrouping
Directions
1. Player 1 throws the die and shows that many cubes in the ones place on your
mat.
2. Player 2 rolls the die and adds that number to the number already on your
mat. Once you reach 10 in the ones place, regroup (bundle) and place a long
in the tens place.
3. Keep playing until you run out of cubes and longs.
Questions You Can Ask Your Child:
• When do you need to regroup (bundle) your cubes and place them into the tens
place?
• How does the tens and the ones place help you know how many cubes there are?
Challenge: Use two dice added together
I’M THINKING OF A NUMBER
Materials: None
Skill: Comparing numbers and reasoning
Directions
1. One player says, “I’m thinking of a number between 1 and 10.”
2. The other player guesses a number.
3. The first player says whether the guess is too high or too low.
4. Keep playing until the number is guessed. Trade places and play again.
Questions You Can Ask Your Child:
• Is there a better number to begin with?
• How does it help to know if the number is too low or too high?
• Is it easier to be the guesser or the thinker?
• What if we played the same game with numbers through 30 or 50 or 100?
