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Let’s face it. As a child, you were either good at English or Maths. For me, I was better at English throughout my time in school. I found it more interesting. But, how can you make Maths more interesting for children? Well, as a primary school maths teacher myself, I can tell you that GAMES are the answer! Every child loves a good game. Especially when you’re trying to bet the teacher!
In this post, I will be outlining 4 different games and how they will benefit your children with their learning in Maths.
Molehill Meadows
Molehill Meadows is an amazing flip and write game where you are helping Mika the Mole tunnel across flower filled meadows. Tunnels need to be strategically placed in order for you to game the most points at the end of the game.
How does this link to Maths? When children enter Key Stage 2 in primary school, they will begin to learn how to translate shapes across grids and this is the perfect game to grasp that aspect! You are using different Tetris style tunnel shapes to fit around the meadows grid. The tunnel you are placing on the grid can only touch one square of a previous tunnel which makes it that little bit more strategic.
There is no limit on how many players you can play this with so if you’re a teacher, this is actually a great game to play with a class! Also, who doesn’t love an adorable Mole in a builder’s hat?!
Zeus on the Loose
Zeus on the Loose is a strategic card game played across 4 rounds (so you spell out Z.E.U.S). Players will play number cards and add them to the previous numerical value on the card that was previously played. Whenever someone adds and gets a multiple of 10, they take Zeus and place it in front of them. If you still have Zeus in front of you when it reaches 100, you win the round! However, there are some power cards (which contain pictures of other Greek Gods and Goddesses on them) that may impact the gameplay.
This card game is great for children who are learning their additions within 100. It’s a great way to quickly practice those mental recall skills and it is a lot of fun when the power cards are involved! When playing this game, it might be beneficial to have a piece of paper and pen next to you in case you need to do any workings out!
Qwirkle
Qwirkle is a game all based on matching colours and shapes. You all have a starting pile of tiles and the aim is to collect points by placing tiles of the same shape or colour in a line. You'll score a point for every tile in a line, but there are bonus points up for grabs too! Complete a line of all six shapes or all six colours and you'll earn a whopping 12 points! This is called a Qwirkle.
How is this linked to Maths? This game is for children 6+ and children at that age will be learning about the different names of 2D shapes, how to continue a repeating pattern or how to match different groups of objects together (one being colour). So, this is a great game to help your child consolidate their learning in those areas!
Slide
Slide is a great game to help with those quick Maths skills. The challenge of this game is to rid yourself of cards in order for you to gain the lowest points possible at the end of each round.
Players start with 16 cards face down in a 4x4 grid in front of them. The numbers on the cards range from 1-10. You do not know what cards you have face down in front of you. To start, each player chooses a card from their grid and reveals this face up with their other players. The starting player is the one who revealed the lowest number. Each player then claims a revealed card and slides it back into their 4x4 grid in place of the card they removed earlier. The starting player position then rotates clockwise and this will happen 15 more times until all the cards are revealed. Number cards that are adjacent to one another that have the same numerical value are worth 0 and are removed. Your points value then is the total of all your other numerical cards left! The player with the lowest score wins!
What I like about this game is that you’re constantly using your mental maths skills. Not just for adding your own grid up! You want to also look at the other player’s grid and see if you can mess up their systems as well as making yours score low! This would be really good for children who are 8 + up just to practise those quick addition skills that will help to aid them when they begin to add bigger numbers.
To summarise, there are so many games out there to promote a love of Maths and to make the subject fun! These games are just a select few!
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