Games for practicing math

Continuing the discussion from Practicing math facts, with movement:

From the same workshop packet:

Target Addition

Practices mental arithmetic and strategic planning.
2 - 4 players
Requires a game board and tokens to cover numbers.

The game board is a grid of numbers:

5 5 5 5 5
4 4 4 4 4
3 3 3 3 3
2 2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1 1
  • Choose target number between 22 and 55
  • Take turn covering numbers with tokens, each time announcing the total of covered numbers; ex. the first player covers a 4, the second covers a 3, and the third covers a 5, the sum would be 4 + 3 + 5, or 12. If the fourth player covers a 3, the total would be 12 + 3, or 15.
  • Each number may only be covered once.
  • The first player to reach the target number exactly wins. If a player goes over the target number, they are out.

Place the digits

Develop understanding of place value and number position relationships.
2 - 6 players
Writing materials
Random Number Generator (dice, spinners, playing cards) for 0-9

  • Players draw three boxes on a piece of paper, large enough to hold a numeral
  • Each round someone is the number generator, and announces the number
  • The players put the number in one of the boxes
  • Generate numbers twice more, players put each number into a box
  • Each player then reads their number, the player with the largest number wins
  • Repeat, taking turns generating numbers


  • Play to get the smallest number
  • Play to get as close as possible to a specific number, such as 500
  • Use three boxes and an additional reject box, and make four rolls, allowing players to choose three of the four to use as their answer
  • Play with 4 or 5 boxes for larger numbers
  • Make factional numbers (“boxes over boxes”)
  • Create arithmetic problems with boxes

This deserves a visual treatment, which was included in the packet. Here goes with emoji!

:black_square_button: :black_square_button:
:heavy_plus_sign: :black_square_button:

That would be a neat box set to fill out, in order to create largest number!

I’m not sure how this plays out… maybe the board resets, and the remaining players resume? I haven’t played it, so I’ll keep this in mind when we do. :slight_smile: