Math Games

Please note that many of these games can be adapted and played across the divisions.

Primary Games Page

Card Match - number concentration 2

Stomp – comparing numbers

Double Up – doubling a number 3

Speed – one digit addition

Fishing for Ten – number combinations for 10 4

Looking for Ten – number combinations for 10

Hit the Target – single digit addition & subtraction

Hundreds Chart Puzzles 5

Disappearing Numbers – number relationships

Two-Dice Sums – addition to 12 6

How Close Can You Get? – comparing numbers

HTO – place value 7

Elevator Ride 0 to 20 – addition and subtraction 8

Race to a Flat – place value & regrouping 9

Countdown to Zero – place value & regrouping 10

Junior Games

Race for 500 – place value, regrouping 10

Decimal Dance – place value, comparing numbers

Rounding to a Target Number – place value 11

Roll and Add – addition facts & probability 12

Roll and Multiply - multiplication facts & probability 13

Salute – math facts practice 15

Twenty-Five – addition and subtraction

Intermediate Games
Crypto – order of operations 16

The Product Game – multiplying factors 18

Triple M “An Average Game” – mean, median, mode 19

Integer Elevator Game – add/subtract integers 20

Speed Addition with Integers 21

Speed Multiplication with Integers

Exponent Snap & Exponent War 22
References and Resources 23

Primary Math Games

Card Match

Morrison pg. 42-43

Any number of players
Materials: one deck of cards with the face cards removed
This game is played like concentration using numeral cards from a deck of cards. Pairs of number cards are set down on a surface in rows. In KG, start with 6 cards and increase the number of cards for older students.
Students take turns flipping over 2 cards. If the cards match, the students get to keep the cards. If the cards do not match, they are flipped back over for other students to try. The student with the most cards at the end of the activity wins.
Overall Expectations: NS&N - Gr. 1: read, represent, compare and order whole numbers
G&SS – Gr. 1: describe the relative locations of objects using positional language
Extensions: Have students add the two cards that match (e.g., 4 + 4 = 8). They could also state the subtraction fact (4 – 4 = 0).

Stomp (played like War)

Morrison, pg. 44

Two players
Materials: one deck of cards with the face cards removed
Each student gets half the deck with the cards in a pile face down. When one student says ‘go’, each student flips over the card on the top of the pile. The higher number wins. At the end of the game, the students total the number of cards that they have to see who has won the activity.

Overall Expectations: Gr. 1: read, represent, compare and order whole numbers…

Extensions: Students state the difference between the two numbers before they can claim the cards (e.g., 4 is 3 more than 1)

Change the game so that the lower number wins. Students must state the difference between the lower and higher numbers (e.g., 2 is 3 less than 5).

Double Up

Morrison, pg. 47

Two players
Materials: one deck of cards with face cards removed
One students flips over a card. The first player to correctly say the double of the number on that card wins the card. The activity continues until all the cards have been used. The winning player is the one with the most cards at the end of the activity. To avoid disagreements about fairness, the students take turns flipping over the cards.
Overall Expectations: Gr. 1: solve problems involving the addition and subtraction of single-digit whole numbers, using a variety of strategies
Extension: Play a near doubles game:
Students state the double plus one fact (e.g., when turning over a 3, say: 3 + 4 = 7)
or the double plus two fact (e.g., 3 + 5 = 8) to win the cards
Play this game using number cubes instead of playing cards.

Speed

Morrison, pg. 49

Two players
Materials: one deck of cards with face cards removed
Each student gets half the deck. When one student says ‘go’ each flips over the card. The first student to correctly give the sum (by adding them) wins the cards. At the end of the activity, the students add up the number of cards that they have to see who has won. The same activity can be played in older grades by having the students multiply instead of add.
Overall expectations: Gr. 1: solve problems involving the addition and subtraction of single-digit whole numbers, using a variety of strategies
Extensions: 3 players can play and add 3 numbers
Players can subtract the smaller number from the greater number
Gr. 3 and up: students multiply the 2 numbers to find the product
3 players can multiply to find the product for 3 numbers

Fishing for Ten (played like Go Fish)

Two to Four players
Materials: one deck of cards with the face cards removed
Play this game similar to Go Fish but instead of finding cards of the same number and colour, students pair numerals that add to ten (e.g., 7 and 3, 4 and 6, 2 and 8…)
Deal 7 cards to each player. Set the remaining cards face down in a pile in the centre of the group. Students take turns asking each other for cards that will allow them to make ten. When they get a pair of numbers that equal ten, they set their cards down for others to see and check. Play continues until the all the cards are all paired. Students may wish to use a face card to represent zero that will allow them to make 10 + 0.

Overall Expectations: Gr. 2: NS&N: solve problems involving the addition and subtraction of one and two digit whole numbers, using a variety of strategies

P&A: demonstrate an understanding of the concept of equality between pairs of expressions, using concrete materials, symbols, and addition and subtraction to 18

Extensions: adapt the game and the cards used to play Fishing for 8 and Fishing for 9, etc.

Looking for Ten
Materials: deck of cards. Remove the face cards. Ace = 1
Students work in small groups. The dealer lays out five cards face up. Students search the five cards to find combinations for ten. They name 2 cards that make ten and are allowed to claim those cards (e.g., 2 and 8 make 10). If no combinations are found in the five cards, then more cards are laid out. The dealer replaces the combinations that are claimed by the students.
Expectations: compose and decompose numbers in a variety of ways
Extension: set out more cards and allow students to combine 3 numbers when making combinations for ten. Use numbers other than 10 such as 8, 9, 12, and other teen numbers.
Hit the Target pg. 163: Students use the numbers on playing cards that are added or subtracted to equal a target number
Materials: playing cards with the face cards removed, 2 number cubes
2 number cubes are rolled and the numbers shown are added (e.g., 4 + 4 = 8).
Students are given 6 playing cards. They look at the numbers on their cards and find numbers that be added or subtracted to equal the target number (e.g., 6 + 2 = 8 or 10 – 2 = 8). Students may combine 3 or more cards to reach the target (e.g., 3 + 1 + 4 = 8)
Play continues and students take more cards from the centre pile as they use up their cards.
Overall Expectations: solve problems involving the addition and subtraction of single-digit whole numbers, using a variety of strategies
Note: Students in the Junior grades may also use multiplication and division when playing Hit the Target.
Hundreds Chart Puzzles
Print hundreds charts onto card stock or manila tag. Cut up the hundreds charts and store them in zip-loc bags or envelopes. Students put the hundreds charts back together and explain their strategies for matching the pieces (e.g., knew that the piece with 100 on it would be in the bottom right corner and placed that piece accordingly or, they organized all the pieces showing tens numbers underneath each other).
Overall Expectations: read, represent, compare, and order whole numbers to 50 (Gr. 1), to 100 (Gr. 2)…
Demonstrate an understanding of magnitude by counting forward to 100 and backwards from 20
Extensions For students who need to work with fewer numbers, use the top portion of the hundreds chart and provide a cut up puzzle with numbers to 10, 30 or 50.
For an extra challenge, provide a hundreds chart cut into smaller pieces.
Disappearing Numbers
2 – 3 players
Materials: hundreds chart (1 – 100, 101 – 200…) any type of hundreds chart will do. Upper grades should work with hundreds charts that feature larger numbers such as numbers from 501 to 600, small counters that are the same size as a square in the hundreds chart.
One player covers 3 or 4 numbers on the hundreds chart as the partner(s) look away.
The partners must state the numbers that have been covered and explain how they know. (e.g., if 74 is covered, students might say they know the number is 74 because 74 is the number between 73 and 75, that the number has to begin with a 7 because it is in the same row as the numbers that have 7 tens and that it is in the column where all the numbers have a 4 in the ones place
Overall Expectations: NS&N: read, represent, order, and compare whole numbers to…
Patterning & Algebra: Describe, extend, and create a variety of numeric…patterns…
Two-Dice Sums
Players: 2 or more
Materials: 11 counters per person, strip of paper labelled 2 through 12 with each number covered by a counter
Students of all ages can play this game, as long as they are able to add the numbers on two dice. Younger children benefit from the practice of adding, older students have the opportunity to think about the probability of the sums from rolling two dice.
Objective: to remove all the counters in the fewest rolls possible
Each player arranges 11 counters on the game strip.
Players take turns rolling the dice.
For each roll, all players can remove one counter if it is on the sum rolled. Players keep track of the number of rolls of dice it takes to clear their game board.
Overall Expectations: NS&N, Gr. 2: solve problems involving the addition and subtraction of one and two digit whole numbers, using a variety of strategies
DM&P, Gr. 2: describe probability in everyday situations and simple games
Extensions: Allow students to add and/ or subtract the 2 numbers rolled in order to be able to remove counters more quickly from their game strip
Ask students to note if sums appear more often than others (exploring probability)
How Close Can You Get?
Players: small groups or whole class
Materials: deck of playing cards, calculator (optional), scrap paper
Depending on the grade, a number of cards are turned face up to establish a target number (e.g., 27)
Gr. 2 – use 2 cards; Gr. 3 – use 2 to 3 cards; Gr. 4 and up – 4 or more cards
Students use cards from their hand of 6 cards to make a number as close to the target number as possible. Students find the difference between their number and the target number. This is their score for the round. The player with the lowest score after 3 rounds is the winner.
Stud
Overall Expectations: Gr. 3: read, represent, compare, and order whole numbers
Solve problems involving the addition and subtraction whole numbers, use of mental math strategies such as adding on Big Idea: number relationships
Extensions: In the Junior and Intermediate grades, the target number could be a decimal number (e.g., in Gr. 4: 25.7; in Gr. 5: 45.72, etc.) Use a round counter to represent the decimal point.
HTO – Hundreds Tens Ones
Morrison, pg. 46
2 – 3 players
Materials: deck of cards with face cards and tens removed, place value chart
Goal: Students place the number cards in the columns to make the largest number.
One player deals 3 cards face down to each player. Player 1 turns over 1 of their three cards and places it in one of the columns on their HTO game sheet. Once a card is placed it cannot be moved. Player 2 turns over a card and places it on their HTO game sheet.
This continues, until all of the cards are turned over. The student with the highest number on their HTO game sheet wins all the cards from that round.
Overall Expectations: NS&N Gr. 3: read, represent, compare and order whole numbers to 1000… Gr. 4: to 10 000, Gr. 5: to 100 000, Gr. 6: to 1 000 000
Big Idea: place value, number relationships
Extensions: Play the game with the goal of creating the lowest number or a number that is closest to or furthest away from a predetermined number such as 100.
Younger students can play the game using the tens and ones columns only.
JR & Int. students can use more cards and a place value chart with columns that include … thousands, hundreds, tens, ones, tenths, hundredths… to play a game using decimal numbers. Use a round counter or button to represent the decimal point.
Ask groups to keep track of the numbers that they create. Then, they can organize the numbers from greatest to least or least to greatest.
Scaffolding for this game:
Give students the required number of cards and allow them to organize their cards to create the largest or smallest number based on the goal of the game.

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Elevator Ride

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Materials:

elevator ride strip, plus/minus spinner, pencil, paper clip, number cube, counter for each student