Have you ever purchased a super cute math game online only to find out it’s not the low prep game you thought it would be? Or that you spend a Sunday afternoon creating a game that your students enjoy for 37 seconds? Please tell me I’m not alone in this.
Math games are an excellent way for students to strengthen and practice their math facts. I dedicate time into my math block for students to play math games together because it gives everyone a chance to practice in a fun and engaging way. BUUUUT, I don’t have time or the energy to design or set up elaborate games for my students to play.
Most of us already have decks of cards and dice in our classrooms already. These no prep math games use both in ways that get your students practicing and learning and growing.
Played With: Deck of Cards
How many players: 2
How to Play: Students divide the deck of cards evenly (remove the jokers/wild cards). At the same time, students flip over their top cards. The first person to say the product of the cards wins the pair. Face cards can be given the value of 10 or as follows: Jacks =11 and Kings and Queens= 12.
Support: Students just learning their multiplication facts may need to have a multiplication chart to check their answers, or a reduced deck of cards. For example: The deck only contains cards with 1-5 for students new to multiplication.
Extension: Allow 3 students to play together, each flipping their own card. This will force students to look for groupings that are easier to multiply together, think about numbers in expanded form, as well as have students practice their multi-digit multiplication. When playing with 3 students, all face cards can be given a value of 10.
This game can also be used to practice addition facts.
Played With: 2-4 Dice
How many players: 2
How to Play: Students each take a dice and roll it at the same time. Students try to be the first person to say the product of the the dice. For example, if a 5 and a 3 are rolled, the answer is 15. If students are playing with 3 or 4 dice, each person rolls their dice and adds the sum of the dice before multiplying the “two numbers” together.
For example, if the first student rolls a 6 and 3 and the second student rolls a 2 and 5, the answer is 63 (9×7). This game is great for helping students recognize number patterns quickly as well as reviews addition facts up to 12.
Support: Students just learning their multiplication facts may need to have a multiplication chart to check their answers.
Extension: Substitute one regular dice for a 20 sided dice (or any dice with more than 12 sides). This will stretch students to think flexibly about numbers—possibly thinking of the two digit number in expanded form in order to mentally multiply the numbers together.
Played With: Game Board with either 1-2 Dice or a deck of cards, pencil
How many players: 2
How to Play: Print some game boards for students—this game has different multiplication tables game boards in order to give your students focused multiplication practice. Students roll a dice and then multiply the value on the dice by the time table on the game board. Students try and get 3 in a row. The player with the most wins!
My students love “playing” them–and I love that they’re building math fact fluency and confidence.