Guess if You Can is a game that allows everyone to be number detectives. It can be played in pairs or in a group. One person thinks of a number between 0 and 100. The others take turns asking questions to which the number chooser gives yes and no answers. "I'm thinking of a number between 0 and 25," the chooser might say. Then questioners might ask whether it is an even number, a number that can be reached when counting by 2s, a number less than 15 but more than 10 and so on.
Put 100 small objects in a brown paper bag. These might be crayons, coins, beans or buttons. Players take turns reaching into the bag to pull out and count a handful. Then everyone tries to answer how many are left in the bag.
Sum of What is a simple but engaging game from the first "Family Math" book published in 1986 by the University of California's Lawrence Hall of Science. It requires paper cut into game strips on which you write the numbers 1 to 9, a pencil, a pair of dice and dried beans. Players take turns rolling the dice. The numbers rolled are the numbers the player covers with beans on his game strip. Or if the sum of the two numbers rolled is 9 or less, a bean can be placed on that sum. If, for example, a player rolls a 2 and a 4, but the 2 is already covered, place a bean on 6 if it is still open. If a combination of numbers is rolled that are already covered and which add up to a sum that is covered, that person is out. When everyone is out, players sum up the uncovered numbers on their game strips. The winner has the lowest sum.
Dr. Mike's Math Games for Kids is a website with lots of great math activities for kindergarten through middle school. The challenging math puzzle looks a bit like a fat cross or an odd Tic Tac Toe board with three rows organized in a pattern of two boxes on top, four boxes in the middle and two boxes on the bottom. The object is to fill in the boxes with the numbers from 1 to 8 in such a way that no two consecutive numbers are next to each other either horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Think this is simple? Give it a try.