Maths Games

I love playing maths games with my class. It is a quick and easy method of informal assessment and an easy way to differentiate too. This post will focus on oral maths games. I won’t go in to the obvious ones we all play, ( ‘Kings and Queens’ anyone?! ) rather, this is just a short list of games my first and second class enjoy in the mornings.

First up, any games that gets children on their feet and out of those little chairs!

1. Odds and Evens: The children do a jumping jack for odd numbers and bend down to touch their toes for even numbers. So they close their eyes, I call out a number like ’67’ and the children either do a jumping jack or bend to touch their toes. They are getting so good at this game now!

 

2. 100s, tens and units: Again, an active one. Teacher models the game first. A hundred= a clap. A ten = a stamp and a unit= hands on head. So if I choose the number 231, I will do two claps, three stamps and 1 hands on my head. The children then try identify the number. It’s a great listening game! Once I have modeled it a couple of times I pick children to come up and choose the number.

3.  Cube Drop: Another listening one. I drop a number of cubes into a container and the children must identify how many cubes I dropped in. (eyes must be closed) I also use this games for multiplication table practice for 2nd class. So each cube is worth three, how many did I have in total?

 

4. Whiteboard Attack: I write a number on the board, e.g. 24. Using mini whiteboards the children must write as manys ways as possible of getting the number 24. They can add or take away. I set a timer of three minutes for this task.

5. Workout Wednesday: Maths and PE combined! A ten minute morning warm up using maths. We take turns calling instructions, e.g. teacher says ‘Do 11-6 star jumps’, child 1 says ‘Do double 3 knee jumps’ and so on.