It's natural that as a caring parent, you will want to provide your kids with everything that they need to become a successful person as an adult. Playing math games has been proven to increase a child's math skills and also, it is helpful in enhancing brain development.
In the following article, we are going to share a few top math games which will help you in boosting your child's math skills.
101 or Out
If you are a teacher and you want to do something fun and maths for your students, we suggest you try and play this game in class with your students. This game is as simple as its name. 101 or out. You need to score 101 points, or close to it without getting over to win the game.
To play the game, you need to make two teams and give each team a dice and a paper. Kids have to roll the dice and note the number on its face as it is, or they can multiply it by 10 if needed. For example, if the number on the face is 4, one can simply note down 4, or they can multiply it by 10 and note down 40.
Simon Says, "Geometry"!
Different versions of this traditional game have been played for generations. To play the game, kids have to illustrate the geometric terms acute angle, right angle, obtuse angle, parallel and perpendicular lines.
But the catch here is, they can do this only by using their arms! To make it more fun, you can increase the speed of commands with time.
Draw a colorful Math Fact Garden
If you are outside of your house and you want to play a math game, then this one is a must-go! To play the game, all you need is chalk. That's it!
To play the game, draw a flower with ten petals and write a main number at the center. Now on the top of each petal, write what you want your kids to do with the middle number. For example, in addition, you can write +5 on the top of the respective petal. The same can be done with other petals using different commands like multiplication, division, and subtraction.
Now you can ask your kids to fill in the correct answers in the respective petals.
You can use different colored chalks to make it more fun!
Tell Time on a Giant Clock
To play the game, you need to find an open area draw a giant clock with hours and minutes hands using a chalk piece. Now you need to ask two students to become hours and minutes hand respectively.
Call out the time and ask your students to position themselves accordingly. Now, to increase the fun, you can add or subtract time accordingly and ask your students what's the correct time now! (Example what's the time 34 minutes later or what was the time before 2 hours 30 minutes)
Add or Subtract by stacking cups
For some unknown reason, kids love building and breaking. You might have also noticed the same, right?! Then why don't we use this in a game. Kids can have fun, and they can learn at the same time.
To play the game, you need a bunch of cups and stack them. Now you can give different commands to your kids like add 5 or subtract 3, for which they have to add five cups and remove 3 cups, respectively.
To make it more fun and complicated, you can write numbers on your cups which would signify their equivalence to the number written on them.
Whack a ball to subtract
Your kids are going to love this. You can purchase a readymade plastic or wooden whack a ball game box, or you can make one using any cardboard box at your home.
To play the game, kids have to whack the ball to subtract accordingly. It's very fun!
Math Bowling
Now before you say anything, we assure you we aren't talking about the expansive bowling alley. To play the game, you need ten empty used plastic water bottles and a permanent marker.
Number each bottle from one to ten or as you wish. Now you are ready! Ask your kids to roll the ball and to check how many bottles they can knockdown. Add the numbers on the bottle to get the score.
Math Bingo
Everyone loves bingo! To make the game extra special, why not add a math twist?! To play the game, create dingo cards that contain answers to different multiplication tables. Now hand over the cards to students properly.
Now here's the twist, instead of calling numbers, you give kids different equations. After finding out the solution, they can check whether the number is on their card or not.
Stand Up, Sit Down
This game is so much fun when you play it with your friends. This game is easy to play. You give your students an equation and pick a number. Students stand if the answer to that equation matches that number. If not, they stay seated.
You can modify the game if you want to make it a little complicated. For example, you can ask your students to stand only if the answer is
An odd number, a prime number, or a multiple of seven. You may also add basic mathematic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division too!
Fun with Abacus
If your kid is of the proper age, maybe it's the right time to introduce your kids to the abacus. Talking about the benefits of the abacus will need a separate article. Studies have proven that kids who start learning abacus at an early age are really good at math in their future years.
The abacus helps in overall brain development. Kids who are good at abacus are very efficient in decision-making and problem-solving.
Final Words
Not just these, there are a lot of fun math games available online you can try. If you want, you can even make a fun math game yourself.
Playing mathematics-related games not only increases kids' interest in math it also helps in the overall development of problem-solving skills, reasoning skills, creative thinking, and STEM. In the case of multiplayer games, it also helps in teaching your kid teamwork and social skills.