Using Math Games to Promote Meaningful Learning

Incorporating content skills into fun, engaging math games is one of my favorite parts of teaching! When learning math, it is important to understand the foundational background of the math skill like why 2 + 2 = 4 but ALSO it is necessary to practice, practice, practice!! What is a better way to practice than with a fun math learning game?!

In my math centers, one of my stations is Math With A Friend. At this math work station, students are working with a partner on fun math activities.

Why Use Math Games?

Besides that interactive math activities are FUN they are also very beneficial for students. My 2nd graders are regularly apply math skills to various situations, consistently reviewing past skills, having math discussions, practicing using math manipulatives, and creating meaningful associations with the math content.

Organizing The Math Games

I use math tubs (like pictured above) to organize all the math activities that students can choose from during Math with a Friend. These are inspired by The Brown Bag Teacher, she gave my all of my ideas for how to set up my math game center and I use a lot of her resources as the activities!

Inside the math tubs:

math games/ activities to practice:
- vocabulary
- math facts
- past skills we have learned (on a spiral review rotation)
- foundational skills from previous year— for example before we start working on learning about sides and vertices I have review activities from the shape skills the students learned last year in 1st grade
- current math skills
100s chart *this is a staple that I have as a math tub every week
books about math– this is also a math tub option every week and I just change out the books

*Also inside with the math games are ALL of the materials the students could possibly need to do the activity. For example I might include dry erase markers, erasers, counters, dice, coins, base ten blocks, ANYTHING! We do not want them worrying about going around the room to find the necessary materials.

I keep the extra game boards and visual directions in page protectors in a HUGE binder so that I can find them easily.

I switch the game every week or every other week depending on the choices in variety in the tubs.

Differentiating the Math Games:

There are a few ways that I differentiate the math activities that I have in the tubs for my students.

Different levels of dice– I can put in dice that range from 4 sided to 20 sided or have varying ranges of numbers such as multiple of tens. This way students can use the same game board or activity but the challenge of the number changes. Sometimes I tell my students which color dice to use by putting them in little bags labeled by group or allow them to choose.
Leveled game boards- if this is the route I am going then I have folders labeled by group in the tub and my 2nd graders know they take the math activity out of their folder to play
Leveled Challenges- sometimes I tell the students that there are different levels of difficulty associated with an activity such as the 100s chart and tell them that they need to work through the levels and see how high they can go!

Management

Behaviors:

I put very specific expectations in place for my students for good sportsmanship, sharing, compromising, and remaining calm during math games. We model and practice this over and over before students are let loose to play while I am with a guided math group. I use interactive modeling to teach my student the appropriate way to complete each math station.

responsive classroom interactive modeling

You can also assign partners for students to complete the activity with to help promote positive interactions.
I LOVE using the call and response “waterfall” to manage voice level. When I say waterfall, students respond “shhhh” and wiggle their fingers to model water trickling down.

Questions

I teach my students how to play new math games during SSR or dismissal, any extra time we have so students can understand the directions and practice to play independently.
I give two students necklaces to be helpers. If students have a question about what to do, they can ask those students before asking me while I am with a group. I also use strategy this in reading centers!

Transitions

I say “2 minutes warning” when it is almost time to transition to the next math station. Then my 2nd graders at the Math with a Friend center have enough time to clean up their materials. They can ensure that the math tub is neat and how they found it.