Math Games for School

Math is probably the easiest skill to work on in games.  Almost every game has dice involved and you’re having to do simple addition in your head.  Because of that, I’m going to leave out obvious ones like Clue because it does not specifically work on a math skill.

{some of these are affiliate links}

 

Addition/Subtraction or Multiplication/Division Math Games

Math Gym– This is my favorite math game for basic skills.  It is scaled for the whole family and has problems your first grader can answer (and some kindergarteners depending on what you’ve covered) all the way up to algebra and geometry questions.  Your goal is to be the first one to get $500, and you earn money by solving math problems.  You also choose where you’re moving by creating math problems.  I LOVE this game.

Sumology– This game is like Scrabble for math.  You are building equations and scoring based off the numbers used.  You can play it with just addition/subtraction or have all 4 functions.  If you like Scrabble, you’ll like this game.

Role-Playing Games– This is one not all of you will be good with, but role-playing games have many benefits, not the least of which being by the time you’ve been playing for a couple of months you are very good at doing mental math for adding and subtracting a variety of numbers.

My Dwarves Fly– You’re building armies of monsters to fight the other players.  Your goal: to win the battles and get the gold!  This is a great game to work on both mental math and comparison skills, which monster gives me the best chance to win the fight.

Amoeba Math– This is probably one of the few computer games I’ll mention (we don’t tend to play lots of learning computer games).  You can set the level to whatever difficulty you like and it can go from easy single digit addition and subtraction up to multiplication/division and negative numbers.  My boys really like this game, and I need to let them play it more often.

 

Shopping/Money Math Games

Bank It!- My kids LOVE this one, I need to break down and buy it rather than borrowing it from my friend.  You are trying to buy 1 item from each store, save money, and give to charity in order to win.  I like that it teaches the same principles I’m trying to teach my children: give, save, and spend.  This is my favorite money game so far.

Pop to the Shops– I had this one shared with me, when I asked for games, and it looks like a fun shopping game to learn about money.

Pay Day– This was my favorite game as a kid.  I loved moving around the board and through the month earning money and spending it.  I don’t know why THIS particular game appealed to me so much, but I always wanted to play this game.

Game of Life– This was another game I enjoyed as a kid, though mainly because I had fun mocking the scenarios presented and giving names to the kids I collected and being ridiculously silly.  My big caveat on this, the games can go quite long.

Monopoly – The Classic Edition– I personally don’t like Monopoly (flashbacks to the horrible game throwing incident with my brother, shudder), my kids on the other hand adore the Toy Story Monopoly Junior I found at Half Price books.    It’s a great way to practice money skills and making change.  It also teaches about the value of making wise purchases.  It’s also horribly painful if you’re not going to win and you have to sit there for 2 hours watching the other person win as you slowly hemorrhage money.

 

**** A side note, both Monopoly and Game of Life have electronic boardgame versions that use credit cards, be careful with these because it will take away some of the math skills practiced****

 

Geometry/Spatial Reasoning Math Games

*side note, for whatever reason I don’t do well at these, so I don’t tend to like them as much*

Blokus Classics Game– This is a great game for working out how to fit that piece in just right and takes some strategy to end up with the least amount of pieces left.  I always get messed up by not anticipating what the other players are going to do.  ARGH!

Tetris Link– This is the one exception, I LOVE Tetris, I spent many an hour as a kid playing this.  This is the board game version where you draw pieces out and place them.  I excel at this. (I linked to a special edition that has a travel version).

Battleship– this is a great way to learn coordinates for a graph.  It’s also one of those logic reasoning puzzles that can either be very fun to you or mind-numbingly frustrating.  I enjoyed the hunt and peck aspect of it as a kid………..

Shapes Up and Quirkle– are both games I learned about from Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns in her math games post a few months ago.  They’re both strong on geometry and spatial reasoning and both have points to add, so you get addition practice as well.

**I have several more geometry/spatial reasoning games that will be included in the history games.

 

Probability and Statistics Math Games

*techinically any game can teach you this if you count cards, or if you know the likelihood of rolling a certain number.

Settlers of Catan– to my mind this is the quintessential probability game.  According to probability you have the winning strategy if you build on 6 or 8.  Of course then you get into the randomness and they’re just never rolled defying all probability.

Yahtzee– It’s built into the rules, do you take the 2’s as a 3 of a kind or hope you can roll that again………  As you play it more you realize what is likely to happen again, and how much you’re playing the odds.  FYI, there is a Catan Dice Game that plays remarkably similar to Yahtzee.  Of course there’s also a Toy story version……

I know there has to be others, what am I missing?

 

 

Homemade Math Games

Race to 100– This is a simple grid game and can be changed to whatever number you want, but I loved playing this game when I was teaching 2nd grade, such a great way to work on addition skills.

Train Dice Game– several variations listed, but roll the dice add the trains

Rollercoaster Board Game– I want to make this game, it’s a great way to practice odd vs. even.  Seriously, I need to find an empty box and make it.

Domino Addition– Not really a math game, but my kids love it and act like it’s a game.

Turn Jenga into a math review game– Or in my case how to knock over the game super duper quick…….

 

 

Here’s my overall plan for this series:

Day 1:benefits of using games in school, and links of other reasons to play

Day 2: Active Games/Outdoor Games

Day 3: Preschool Games

Day 4: Math Games (today)

Day 5: Reading Games (switched days, wrote the wrong post for Thursday)

Day 6: Geography Games

Day 7: History Games

Day 8: Science Games

Day 9: Travel Games

Day 10: Solo or Two Player Games