Math Facts Games

These games lend themselves well to a review of some of the other math concepts we’ve worked on this year. I especially thought of the commutative property and would encourage you if you have extra time on any of the days to have them review that property with their equations – maybe even review this property on the white board with some of their equations.

Day One: Dice and Domino Equations
Give each student two dice to roll and make an addition, subtraction, or multiplication problem with the numbers on the dice. Have them record their equations on the “dice” recording sheet (attached). When they have completed 10 equations they can go on to the domino game.
Put several dominoes in a brown lunch sack. Have the students pull a domino out of the bag and make an equation from the numbers on either side of the domino. They should turn in their recording sheets at the end of the math group time so we can check them and use them as data.

Day Two: Math War
Shuffle a deck of number cards (a regular deck with face cards removed or a deck of phase 10 or other number cards). Place them face down between two or more players. Each player chooses two cards and adds or multiplies the numbers on the cards, and place them in the middle. The player with the highest answer takes all of the cards in the middle. If the numbers are the same, both players choose two more cards and the player with the highest answer takes all of the cards. Play continues until one of the players runs out of cards.
Switch partners and repeat if extra time.

Day Three: Equation Concentration
In the box you will find several sets of “Math Memory” games (sets of 20 3x5 cards with equations on ten of the index cards and corresponding answers on the other ten of the cards). Shuffle the cards and place the cards face down on the playing surface. The first player chooses two cards. If they match, then he keeps both cards and chooses again. If they do no match, he puts the cards back and the next player chooses two cards. Play continues until all of the cards are chosen. The player with the most cards wins.

Day Four: Egg-celent Equations
Recycle a used egg carton and two beans for this basic fact review. Write the numbers 1-18 in the bottom of each egg compartment. Get two beans and place them inside the egg carton. Shake the closed carton and have the student make an addition, subtraction, or multiplication equation from the numbers on which the beans land.
For students who want/need an extra challenge, add a bean at a time until they feel like they are being challenged enough. Now they will have 3 or 4 or 5 numbers to make the equation with (have them flip over their recording sheet and create their larger equations there).
*This extension would work especially well as a place to review commutative property.