Playing games provides good opportunities for children to learn about logic and strategies. For example playing cards and board games are good ways to encourage and develop children's numeracy ability. Playing, listening, watching and talking about games and activities helps develop, reinforce, and consolidate children's mathematical understandings.
The following list consists of games and activities that can be used for the community sessions or for children and parents to play at home. A description of each game and how to play it is available by clicking on the links below.
As you read through an activity or game, think about how it could be made easier or harder to suit the needs of the children. A simple activity can be made harder by changing a few numbers. The bubble jigsaw puzzles are good examples because children and parents can make simple addition puzzles or puzzles using fractions, decimals, and percentages.
Teachers will probably be familiar with most of the games suggested below. You could help families set up a family mathematics kit at home by providing mathematics activities and games that they could take home and keep.
More games to support numeracy at home can be found in the “Families” section of the nzmaths website.
For counting, place value, addition, and subtraction
- Rachel’s Millions
- Grab Bag
- On and Back
- Doubles and Halves Froggo
- Car Number Plate Maths
- Dice Number Track
- Card Number Track
- Make 10 Circus
- Clock Maths
- Gold Mine
- Monster I-Scream
- Spider and the Fly
- Dough Numbers
- Beans on the Track
- Towers to 10
- Rocket to 7
- Difference Between
- Dice Add Up
- Action Cards
- Your Choice
- Salute
- Memory, Basic Facts to 20
- Horizontal Rocket
- Cover up Kiwi
- Pile up with 10 frames
- What’s missing?
- Bubble Jigsaws
- Bingo Teen and Tys
- Cover up Cars
- I Like Maths
- Doubling using Finger Patterns
Other suitable games and activities on the nzmaths website:
- Rocket (Numeracy Project Book 4, page 15)
- Missing Number Bingo
- Squeeze (Numeracy Project Book 4, page 15)
- Traffic Lights (Numeracy Project Book 4, page 25)
- Target 15, 287
For multiplication and division
- Multiplication Bubble puzzles (see bubble jigsaws in addition/subtraction)
- Start Unknown
- Kiwi Multiplication
- Motocross Multiplication
- Rocket Multiplication
Other suitable games on the nzmaths website:
- Four in a Row Multiplication
- Multiplication Madness (Numeracy Project Book 4, page 36)
- Loopy (Numeracy Project Book 4, page 37)
- Tennis Ball Multiplication
For fractions and ratios
- Fractions, decimals, and percentages bubble jigsaws (see bubble jigsaws in addition/subtraction)
- 0 to 1 on the Number Line
- Fractions with Dough
- Colour in the Fraction Wall
- Decimal Rocket Blast Off
- Ordering Numbers
Other suitable games on the nzmaths website:
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