7 Fun Math Games to Play with Kids

Looking to spark some excitement in your classroom (or at home)? Then you’ll love these 7 fun math games to play with kids! Read on to learn more, or watch us play in the video below.

Several years ago, I created some fun math games for my classroom because I wasn’t giving my students the practice they needed to master the skill.

It’s like riding a bike. You’ll never learn how to do it just by watching someone else do it. You must get on, fall off, try again, and keep going.

Kids need time to develop their ideas! I incorporated these math games into our math centers, and my class’s test scores increased by 21%!

You can read more about how I schedule my centers here!

I began selling these on Teachers Pay Teachers to help other classrooms achieve the same results, and these have become a best sellers! Teachers love them because they are easy to play with for the entire year!

Since there was only one way to play, I knew I needed to add various games to keep the kids’ interest. So, my family and I brainstormed seven fun math games to play with these cards. We love games, so this was a lot of fun for us!

Of course, you can try these games for FREE! Click here to get 200 math facts!

Below are 7 fun math games to play with kids. Please note that some of the links on this page are affiliate links.

1. Heavy Load

Players needed: 1 – 4

Materials: Marbles & Weighted Balance

Objective: Have a heavier load than the opposing player.

How to Play: Players read the card. Answer the question. If the player is correct, the player will select the number of marbles indicated on the card. Players take turns answering until all cards have been answered. The player with the heaviest load wins!

2. Jacks

Players needed: 1 – 4

Materials: Jacks (or bears) & bouncy ball

Objective: Pick up the jacks

How to Play: The player reads the card and answers. If the player is correct, the player will bounce the ball and pick up the number of jacks indicated on the card. Players take turns until all 10 jacks are picked up.

Since we didn’t have jacks, we substituted them for counting bears. This worked well! You could also substitute with blocks or other small objects. This is a great game for building coordination.

3. Fubbles

Players needed: 1 – 3

Materials: Bubbles

Objective: Pop the bubbles

How to play: The player reads the card and answers. If the player is correct, the player will pop the number of bubbles indicated on the card. This is a simple incentive for students.

I recommend this game for home or outside. You could even do a relay and have kids run from point a to point b, popping bubbles after they’ve answered. The line that runs through the quickest wins.

4. Pop It!

Players needed: 1 – 4

Materials: Bubble wrap or Pop It! game

Objective: Pop the bubbles

How to play: The player reads the card and answers. If the player is correct, the player will pop the number of bubbles indicated on the card. This is a simple incentive for students.

This one is much like Fubbles. It’s a great option for students working indoors or with sensory needs. We found the Pop It! game from Target. It will last forever. Leftover bubble wrap works too!

5. Jenga

Players needed: 2 – 4

Materials: Jenga blocks

Objective: Create the tallest tower without knocking it over!

How to play: Players read the card and answer. If the player is correct, the other player must select the number of blocks to remove from the tower and place it back on top. If the player is incorrect, the other player does not take any blocks. The player who knocks the tower over loses.

WARNING: THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!

Your students may get really quiet while playing this game and then burst into laughter, cheers, or squeals. It gets so intense. This game is great for building fine motor skills, GRIT, and problem-solving. So many of these are necessary for STEAM education!

6. Build a Word

Players needed: 2 – 4

Materials: Letter tiles (tiles pictured below are from the Target Dollar Spot)

Objective: Create a word

How to play: Players read the card and answer. If the player is correct, the player may select the number of letters indicated on the card. The first player to create a word (one that the teacher gives them) wins.

This is an excellent way to integrate literacy into your math curriculum. I found these tiles from the Target Dollar Spot, which are so beautiful! Really you don’t even need them. You could use letter tiles printed on cardstock or scrabble tiles—any of these works.

7. Pie Face Showdown

Players needed: 2

Materials: Pie Face Showdown game & whip cream

Objective: Pie your opponent in the face

How to play: The player reads the card and answers. If the player is correct, the player will hit the button the number of times indicated on the card. If the player is incorrect, then the opponent gets to hit the button the number of times indicated on the card. The player to pie the opposing player in the face wins.

This game was intense. Since he played against Logan, he was the only one to answer the card. If he got it wrong, I got to press the button. Of course, he kept getting the answers correct because his Daddy kept telling him the answers. It didn’t take long for Logan to pie me in the face!