A quick game of war is an entertaining way to remind second-grade students about basic math. The game consists of two players and one card deck. The students deal the deck out evenly and then flip one card over. Whoever has the biggest number wins both cards. If both players flip over the same card, such as a three, they must both flip over a matching amount of cards, such as three cards. Whoever flips over the biggest number on the last card wins the pile. The player with the most cards wins the game.
Help second-graders practice their reading skills while letting their imaginations run wild with a story game. The game requires a bowl filled with "story starters" written on pieces of paper. Starters can include "Once there was a giant dog," "When I battled with monsters," and "After a storm blew me away to a desert island." Each child picks a slip of paper, reads the line out loud and makes up a story that fits with the "starter." You can also add "story helpers," such as "...and then there was a big bang," and "...suddenly it started raining candy."
Turn descriptive writing into an amusing guessing game to keep second-grade students thinking about details. Students break into teams of two. One person on each team looks at a picture of an object, such as an umbrella or horse. The child then writes down words and phrases that describe the object. The second team member reads the clues and tries to guess what the object is. Team members switch places after the first guess and play again so that everyone has ample opportunity to both write and guess. The team with the most right guesses wins the game.
Use sugar cubes and building games to introduce second-grade students to more complex math concepts, such as spatial geometry. Have each child start by counting and writing down how many sides there are on a single sugar cube. Then ask students to build things with the cubes, counting how many cubes are used and how many total sides are present. As long as each child participates, he automatically wins. Kids can also play with spatial concepts, such as learning how to build a four-by-four block and how to figure out how many sugar cubes they used.