SamizdatMath

This is a rounding game I developed for a colleague at my school: I am a working teacher (as I have been for the past 37 years) so I know stuff. And here’s what I know: games are fun, learners like to play games, and games should exercise the learner’s mind in a variety of ways. Which is how I developed the “rounding” and “un-rounding” games. The “Rounding Game” is your basic bingo game: you turn over two cards, round off the number to the nearest ten, find that rounded number on the bingo board

GaOn is a multi-digit addition/subtraction strategy game that can be played in different ways. Players take turns selecting cards and attempt to form an equation that satisfies the conditions written on the challenge card. Includes game boards, challenge cards, recording sheets and detailed instructions. SamizdatMath does not use or endorse the use of "cutesy" clip art.

79 89 99 119? 129? Take 2: 134 124 114 84? 74? Do your students struggle to count by 10s across 100? If they're doing mental math, then they probably will at one time or another. So why not help them practice this so they don't say things like "75, 85, 95, uh, uh, 105?" This is a "three-fer" - you get the group game "roller coaster" where a group of students compete cooperatively to count up and down by tens between a bottom and top number. For example, the first students says 78, the next one

This "product" is an exercise in the form of a "lightly" competitive game that uses addition and subtraction on the number line (which was invented in 1685 by the mathematician John Wallis) that students can play in any number of configurations (pairs, triplets, etc.) and in any number of ways (rolling a single die, rolling 2 dice, using the numbers individually or in combination, etc.) There are versions that use 3, 4, 5 and 6 rolls. There is a number line under each game for your students prac

This is a game I invented which can be played by two to three players. Each player gets dealt 4 cards which they place face up in front of them. By selecting cards from the "select pile" (face down) or the "discard pile" (face up), players try to make a "run" of 4 consecutive numbers in a skip counting pattern. The set includes skip counting cards for 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12s. You can easily modify this game to make it trickier by having students try to get 5 or 6 cards in a row. My stude

No, it's not a "scoot" game or a tradition "bingo" game; this is an estimation strategy game where students use 4 numbers to create a fraction and then turn it into a decimal (either by hand or using a mental strategy, NOT LONG DIVISION!), round it off (if needed) and then find a square that satisfies that decimal. However, there are many ways to choose a square: some clues are "between" clues ("between .2 and .3") or "exact" clues ("exactly .25") or "less than" clues ("less than .2") which mea

This is a "bingo" style game where players have to get 5 in a row. Sound pretty boring, right? Well, it ain't. Here's why: instead of just being a "one to one" correspondence game where the teacher calls out some bogus fraction (like, uh, 4/5 = ? %), this is a game where students choose from 4 numbers, create a fraction and then convert that into a percent, and then choose whatever square fulfills that percentage. Except the squares are not all exact percentages: most of them are "between 20%

This is my version of the game “Manifest” which was invented by Frank Tapson, an English professor of mathematics education. Tapson’s version is a place value game, where players line up a set of 0 - 9 cards to make a triangle, and then turn over individual rows to see who has made the largest number using the cards. For each row that wins, you get a point. It’s a pretty good game, and can easily be taught to children to enhance their understanding of place value up to 4 digits (into the thousan

Here’s something that I tried out on my 3rd through 6th graders and which was pretty successful: the idea was to have my students practice division facts, while making sure that they got practice in multiple formats. So this game is kind of a “twofer” - practice the facts AND practice different formats at the same time! Actually, it’s more like a “6-fer” because there are 5 different division formats: two of them use the steifel (the division house) using both a missing quotient but also a mis

Sum-o (which is a take-off on the word “sum,” in case you didn’t notice) is an addition practice game which provides young children with the opportunity to investigate different strategies to optimize their play. Like chess, it involves practicing addition and subtraction skills among the two players, and requires them to anticipate the future moves of their opponent. At the same time, there are definite outcomes that can be anticipated in the easier games which grow more complex as the numbers

Factoring is a very important skill in grades 4 - 8, yet our students are missing some essential skills needed to factor quickly and effectively. One of those skill is taking half of large even number quickly and accurately. This set of games will teach your students how to divide a number in half and then help them practice it until they are automatic. For example, your students may not be able to factor 96 as 3 x 32, but they should be able to perform 2 x 48, which would then become 2 x 2 x 2

This packet includes a cover letter for parents that describes the importance of doing math over the summer break, and features a handy chart with a list of the 6 games that are part of this pack, along with a checklist for the dates when they are played. If the child follows the chart, he/she will have practiced math over 50 times during the summer. There are 6 games in the packet, which can be played as partners. They practice addition, subtraction, place value and estimation, and includes ga

Winning Touch is a partner activity where students use tiles to fill in the products on a multiplication board. Each student starts with 4 tiles, and then a "shared" tile is chosen to be placed on the board to begin the game. Each student takes turns finding a combination of factors that will allow a tile to be placed on the board (for example, if the student has a tile marked "18", s/he can play it on 9 and 2, 2 and 9, 3 and 6, or 6 and 3. However, the tile must touch another tile that is alrea

BULLSEYE! is a game that develops children's mastery of skip counting and multiplication facts while practicing estimation. This activity is fun for kids of all skill level, and challenges all students to memorize their skip counting patterns so they can make strategic choices to reach an agreed upon goal. Includes detailed instructions, suggestions for modifications, as well as 4 differentiated versions in color and b&w. Also includes 3 sports themed versions so the game. I've tested this out o

The Bump Game (& Variations) is an activity where kindergarten students learn how to count up and count down from a given number and then practice that skill using "bump up" and "bump down" cards. There are supersized cards that you can use to demonstrate the activity with the class, as well as individual games that students can play in pairs. As a bonus, I've included "DIY" games that you or students can make on their own. Enjoy! Customer Tips: How to get TPT credit to use on future purchase

Tired of the old "make a flat" game? Do you want your kids to enjoy learning about and using place value? Close to a Flat challenges children to think about place value when planning strategy to win a game: in 5 rounds a student chooses between cubes and rods to get as close to making a flat as possible, or in 6 rounds, choosing cubes, rods and flats to make a thousand cube. This game includes puzzles for kids to take home, as well as mats to keep track of cubes, rods and flats. There is also a

RIO is a game based on the work of Constance Kamii to help children develop skills in using skip counting on their way to memorizing multiplication facts; there are games for skip counting by 3's, 4's, 5's, 6's, 7's, 8's and 9's, as well as instructions on how to differentiate between "conceptual facts" and "associated pairs." In full color!

From the laboratories of Better Living Through Mathematics comes another high quality money game for your students. Kids play in pairs selecting combinations of coins, counting up the total and finding it on a tic-tac-toe board. Practices combinations of 2 coins (penny - nickel, penny-dime, penny, quarter, nickel - dime, nickel - quarter, dime quarter and penny quarter) as well as combinations of 3 coings (penny - nickel - dime, nickel - dime - quarter, penny - nickel - quarter, etc.) Includes 1