Some fun games for your math class

It is always fun to start a game in class, especially your offline class. The prospect of game energizes the whole class and you will get added benefit of every kid involved no matter what their age. 


Here are some games to try. 

Interesting fun fact with number 4.

A nice game to play with your students of grade 2 and above. 
Ask them to write the biggest number name they know. 
For example 
One hundred ninety nine.
Count how many letters it has. The above number has 20. Ask them to write the number name of 20 and count the letters in it  
Twenty. It has six letters.
Now six has three letters.
Three has five letters.
Five has four letters. 
Four has four letters. Game ends. 

Let us try another number name .
Thirty nine. 
 Count how many letters. 
Ten letters.
Ten has three letters.
Three has five letters.
Five has four letters. 
Four has four letters. 
Game over. 

So as you can see, no matter how big the number name, counting the letters of subsequent numbers result in the number four. 

Going to 100.

This is yet another game. Ask your students to choose a random number between 1 and 50. 
Then the next students should keep on saying single digit numbers and make the total 100 . Everyone should tell different digits and add them to find the total.The winner is the last person who added the digit correctly to 100. 
Possible twists are using negative integers to slow down the game progress for middle school kids.


Am I prime? 

Start  throwing random numbers . If the number is prime, the kids have to stand up. Otherwise keep sitting. A good game for grades 5 and above.

Am I even or Am I odd? 

This is the variation of the above game for younger kids. You can make a twist by asking them to add two numbers and find if the sum is even or odd. 

Make a target number 

One student randomly says a number he or she likes. Now ask the others to make it a target number by any of the four operations, add , subtract, multiply or divide. For example, someone says 8. Then give the target number as 17, so you can add 9 to make it 17. Or you can double it and add 1 to make it 17. Or you can add 3*3 to 8 to make it 17. It is upto the students'  imagination. 

Musical math

Make lot of math questions on papers and fold them into squares. Put them all in a tray.  Play music and at the end of each music note, student chooses a math problem to solve from the papers in the tray. 

Multiplication Division Mania

Write  multiplication or division questions on paper and distribute them to each student. Start a timer and ask them to finish doing it within a time limit. You will find the students eager to participate and at the same time fumbling over simple things too. 

Coin grab

Find some artificial coins and put them in a tray. Each student has to take a fist full of coins and add them . The student with maximum total will win. This helps them understand money decomposition very well. 




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