Foundational Math Topics
Age/Grade Levels
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Tagged as: Games
Great Games for Early Math Development
Games provide a world of math thinking and learning while removing the stresses and anxiety that can form from more teacher-led instruction.
Games provide meaningful situations for children to apply mathematical ideas and skills and reduce the dreaded math anxiety. When choosing games, teachers should look for those that focus on an important idea and are also easy to learn to play.
One of the most powerful things we have done in our classroom to help children enjoy math is to play math games. Because playing 'memory' with dot cards is fun, kids want to do this on their own, and I have seen their fluency with number composition—the idea that four can be one and three or two and two—increase.
When children are learning a game, the teacher can play with them and model language to describe the math that is going on. Games also reduce anxiety and promote positive attitudes toward math because they reduce the fear of failure and error, since children can always play again.
Above are excerpts from Growing Mathematical Minds, Routledge (2018).
Browse our collection of GAME resources.
Series: Hear from the Experts
Instructional Tools to Integrate Language and Math Concepts with Halla Jmourko
October 22, 2018
Halla Jmourko discusses two innovative instructional tools for integrating language and math concepts in the classroom, The Cubing Game and Three Way Tie.
- Age/Grade Level: 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, Kindergarten
- Tags Games
Series: Focus on Play September 26, 2018
Match ‘Em All
This bingo-like game allows children to think about numbers in different ways. It focuses children on the attribute of quantity of small sets and helps them build a more robust number sense.
- Topic: Number Sense
- Age/Grade Level: Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Dice, Games, Subitizing
Series: Focus on Play September 25, 2018
The Hoop Game
This game played with a hula hoop and bean bags demonstrates all the math that can be explored with a simple tossing game. Each round gives children practice seeing and naming smaller parts of a total number in a variety of ways.
- Topic: Number Sense
- Age/Grade Level: Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Games, Subitizing
Series: Focus on Play July 25, 2017
A Race to Ten, Both Fun and Mathematical
Creating grid games from classroom materials can be a great opportunity for fun and mathematical discussions involving small sets.
- Topic: Counting, Number Sense
- Age/Grade Level: Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Games, Subitizing
Series: Focus on Play July 25, 2017
The Math in Ten Using a Grid Game
Grid games can be some of the earliest experiences children have with board games. And they can be both fun and mathematical.
- Topic: Counting, Number Sense
- Age/Grade Level: Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Games, Subitizing
Series: Focus on Play August 25, 2016
Matching Cards Game in PreK
A quick matching game with dot cards is a fun way for preschoolers to practice recognizing small sets without counting.
- Topic: Number Sense
- Age/Grade Level: 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Dot cards, Games, Subitizing
Series: About the Collaborative May 11, 2016
Collaborative Travels to Canada to Share Early Math Games and Activities
The sessions included an overview of foundational math concepts as well as hands-on early math games and activities for the classroom.
- Age/Grade Level: 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags English Language Learner, Games
Series: Hear from the Experts March 26, 2014
Tangram Puzzles: Make One For Your Kids
Instructor Lisa Ginet explains how to make tangram puzzles, an ancient Chinese game made from seven shapes cut from a square. Over 6500 different arrangements can be made from these seven simple shapes!
- Topic: Shape, Spatial Relationships
- Age/Grade Level: 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Games
Series: Ideas at Work March 2, 2013
Down with Naked Numbers
All kinds of confusion can result when children are asked to rattle off the numbers from 1 to 10 or 20 or higher without actually counting something. In our learning labs and activities we are working to help teachers find ways to avoid “Naked Numbers
- Topic: Counting
- Age/Grade Level: Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Games, Subitizing
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