Fun Math Games For Kids

Parents need to take the first and most important step in their desire to help their struggling math student improve their skills by using fun math games at home. Keep the pressure off! Parental pressure to improve and get better often just adds to the problem. Make sure you understand your child's learning style and use the schools experience with struggling math students to guide you. Often, time is what is needed, eventually it all comes together. This is why math games targeted for specific skills, can be useful while taking the pressure off as well.

Get Close to 100
What you need:- 2 - 4 players- deck of cards, 10s removed- Get "Close to 100" recording sheets (below) for each playerThe object of the game is to make a two-digit addition problem that comes as close to 100 as possible.

Shuffle cards and place them face down in a pile.
Player #1 turns over 4 cards and moves the cards around until he/she has created a two-digit addition problem whose sum will be as close to 100 as he/she can make it. You can go over 100.
Player #1 records this problem on his/her recording sheet.
Player #2 checks for addition accuracy.
Example: Player #1 draws a 4, a 7, a 2, and a 5. He/she moves the cards around until she/he decides that:47 + 52 = 99 is the closest that he/she can get.

Player # 2 draws four cards and does the same.The points for each round are the difference between their sum and 100.
Example: A sum of 95 scores 5 points and so does a sum of 105.Players compare scores at the end of this first round. They put their four cards in a discard pile and player #2 begins first and turns over four more cards for the second round.After six rounds, players total their points and the player with the lowest score wins.

Concentration Games
In order to make an easy Concentration type game, you create sets of fraction word cards and their corresponding picture cards. Students lay out the sets of cards face down. Then, they take turns choosing two cards to try to find matches. If a match is found, they keep their matched cards and their turn continues. If not, they turn the cards back over and the next player continues by searching for matches. For instance a player would have a match if they turned over the fractional words two-thirds and a picture that showed two-thirds shaded on a card. The winner is the person who has the greatest number of cards.

Find It First
Use this fun math game to practice basic times tables (or addition, subtraction or division also).Simply write the answers to tables you are going to practice, randomly over the board or a piece of paper, e.g. to practice eight times tables write - 8, 16, 24, 32, 40 etc. To make the game a bit more challenging, you can add a few other numbers.Two kids stand or sit either side to the numbers and a multiplication table is given, e.g. 7 multiplied by 8.Kids compete to be the first to point to the answer.The first point to the answer, scores a point and the first to have three points is the winner.This game works well as a whole class game with children representing their team or have a tournament to find who the class champion is with each child having a go.

Stair Math
Math flash cards are usually pretty boring. What you can do for your active child is put a card on each step going up your stairs and then along the hall and into another room. Place these every foot or two. Some kids like to be timed, so get out your stopwatch and yell "go!" My son will race up the stairs as quickly as he can while shouting out the answers. He makes it to his room and jumps on his bed in triumph. You can do this game several times.

Using games in math offers so much more than just fun. These games also help to develop a deep understanding of number concepts and a confident attitude towards a sometimes unpopular subject. Don't be surprised when hear, 'Gee that was fun! Can we do it again?'