"Top It" games can be adapted to teach addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. To play, get a standard deck of playing cards -- you can leave the face cards in and assign them numerical values or you can take them out and only play with cards 2 through 10. Shuffle the cards and stack them between the two players. Decide who gets to go first. Player one draws two cards off of the pile, flips them over face up and performs a math function, either addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. Player two then selects two cards, turns them face up and performs the same math function as player one. The player whose function results in the highest number gets to keep all four cards. Continue repeating this process until there are not enough cards for both players to draw. The player with the most cards at the end wins.
"Factor Captor" builds players' understanding of factors and multiples, as well as prime and composite numbers. To play, draw a five-by-six grid and fill in the boxes with the numbers 1 through 30. Play "rock, paper, scissors" to see who gets to go first. Player one chooses a number from the grid and crosses it off. He records his number on a sheet of paper, as that is how many points he gets for round one. For example, if player one chooses the number 10, he would receive 10 points. Player two then selects all of the factors of player one's number and adds them up for his total points for round one. For example, the factors of 10 are 1, 2, 5 and 10. Since 10 has been crossed off, player two gets 1, 2 and 5 for a total of eight points. Player two then selects a number and crosses it off, while player one gets all of the factors. Play until the only numbers remaining do not have any factors that have not been crossed off. The highest total points wins.
Practice basic math facts by playing "War." Divide your class up into two equal teams and have them line up on opposite sides of the room. The first person in each line steps forward to square off against the other. Draw a card from a deck of math flashcards -- it can be addition, subtraction, multiplication or division -- and hold it up for both players to see. The first player to say the correct answer out loud is the winner. The winner goes back to the end of his line and brings his losing partner with him. The object is to try and get all of the students in the class on one side of the room.
Draw a six-by-six grid and fill each box with a random multiple, such as 35, 54, 18 or 7. On the bottom of your paper, draw a number line with the numbers 1 through 9. Each player gets a marker -- a paper clip works well -- to mark a number on the number line. To begin, player one uses his marker to cover a number on the number line. Player two then uses her marker to cover another number on the number line, trying to make a product that appears on the grid. Player one then moves one of the markers to cover another number on the number line and create a new product that appears on the grid. The object is move the markers to create products that allow you to get four in a row on the grid. You can get four in a row vertically, horizontally or diagonally.