Card games can be used to support all operations. Students draw a set number of cards and add, subtract, multiply or divide them to reach a target number. Students can take turns flipping two cards and race for answers using a single operation. Students can also play memory-matching games, laying the whole deck out upside-down and looking for sets of cards that equal each other or a predetermined target.
Like cards, dice games can be used to support practice of all four operations. Students can roll two or more dice and combine the numbers to reach a high score, to hit a target number without going over, or to beat a classmate's number. To add an element of probability and strategy, students may roll as often as they want, but a roll of x clears their points for that round. While many different versions of dice games are used in classrooms, math expert Marilyn Burns identifies her game "101 And Out" as a favorite. Before playing, students create their own game board by drawing a place value chart with a ones and tens column, and space for six numbers. As they roll a single die, they decide each time whether to place their number in the tens place or the ones place. The goal is to get closest to 100 without going over. As Burns writes, "the game involves luck (numbers are generated randomly) and supports reasoning (as students decide how to use the numbers that come up). It works well competitively, cooperatively and as an individual activity."
This cooperative class game requires advanced preparation by the teacher, but once the first game cards are created on a word processor, they can be edited for any class or skill. Each simple card has a question and a different answer on it. Students select cards at random, and any student can begin by reading his or her card. The student with the answer reads the next card. A sample game might sound like: "Who has two times eight?" "I have sixteen. Who has twenty divided by five?" "I have four." The game continues until the first player is reached again. There are many free, printable versions of this game available on the internet, but teachers creating their own simply need to build questions in a loop so the final question is answered on the first card. To add an element of competition, time your class and see if they can beat their record using the same playing cards. Unlike some of the card and dice games, I Have, Who Has? can also be modified to address concepts beyond the four operations, such as geometry, fractions and decimals.
Simple, material-free games like Ping Pong and Around the World can be used while waiting in line, or whenever your class has a few spare minutes. In Around the World, two students stand and the first one to correctly answer a mental math question (such as four plus four) moves on to challenge the next student in line. The winner makes a complete circle back to his or her place. In Ping Pong, students answer the second half of a math problem. For example, if the target is making twenty and the teacher says, "twelve," students try to be the first to say "eight."
Students can play a variety of competitive or cooperative games that allow them to move around the room. Many of these games can be played silently to help with classroom management. For example, each child can write a secret number between 100 and 1000 on a card, and without speaking try to arrange themselves in order, greatest to smallest. In another game, students can answer mental math questions by forming groups of the correct size. For example, if the question is two plus five, students will race to sit in groups of seven. Anyone left out of a group can perform a physical task like five jumping jacks or sit out a round before playing again.