A prospective third grader gains extra insights with addition through an effective game from "Everyday Mathematics," called "Addition Top-It," using a deck of playing cards. Make sure to remove face cards, aces and jokers from the deck. After shuffling, place the deck face down. Each player turns over two cards, adds the number value, then calls out the sum. The player with the highest sum wins the hand and is awarded those cards. If there is a tie, the players turn over two more cards and that highest sum then wins. When there are not enough cards to continue, the player with the most cards wins.
Extra subtraction practice is possible in a two-person game using two dice, a game board depicting the numbers five through 15, and two colors of blocks -- each in a group of 10. On a player's turn, he throws the dice and adds those numbers, then subtracts the sum from 17. With the resulting answer, he then covers that number on the game board with a block. If he reaches a number already covered by his opponent, he can bump her from that number. However, if he reaches a number that he has covered, two blocks are then stacked and the number is frozen. The game continues and the opponent cannot bump him from any frozen spots. The winner is the first person to run out of blocks.
Found on "TVO Kids," "Coin Combo" is an online game for quickly adding combinations of coins. A money amount appears on the left side of the screen and the player clicks on the coins that equal that amount. While he is determining the correct answer, other coins fall from the screen top and stack up. To win, coins must be chosen quickly, before the screen fills up. Correct decisions move a player to the next level.
Because basic multiplication is often introduced to second grade students at the year's end, they may not have much chance to gain skill in it before the next year. One online game for efficient practice is, "Camel Times Tables" from the "BBC." A player chooses from three levels of play while helping Molly load the correct amount of fruit on her camel. The lowest level of difficulty -- which is considered medium in difficulty -- focuses on the connection between repeated addition and multiplication when counting by twos and tens. The next level emphasizes multiplying by threes, fours and fives. The top, and most difficult, level asks for the multiplication fact featured on the screen.