30 Engaging Classroom Math Games for Better Learning {With Free Printable}

Make teaching and learning mathematics fun and exciting with Classroom Math Games. These math games feel less like study and more like play.

Sure to make math class fun, Math Classroom Games are a clever way to work on kids’ math concepts and skills.

With so much to offer, this list of 30 math games for elementary and middle school make a strong case for inclusion in your math class and home learning.

• Math Classroom Games for 1st and 2nd Grade
• Classroom Math Games for Grade 3
• Math Games for Grade 4
• Math Classroom Games for Grade 5

Besides, these math games for students work wonders for classroom environment and student engagement. They alleviate student stress, help kids focus better and positively impact learning outcomes.

Math Games for Grade 1 and Grade 2

These fun math games to play in classroom will have even your most shy students participating.

Easy to understand and origins, these games for grade 1 and 2 will boost arithmetic skills while sneaking in cool mental math skills.

1. Number Guess Who

This is a super fun math classroom game for 6 year olds. The challenge is to guess the secret number chosen by the teacher.

How To Play:

1. Hand out a hundreds chart to each student.

2. Select a number on your number chart and give clues to students to help them guess the number. For example: The number is greater than 15; The number is less than 68; the face value of the digit in tens place is less than the face value of the digit in the unit’s place.

3. The first child to correctly guess the number earns a point.

The clues can be adjusted according to the skill level of students. This classroom game can be played in groups, where you can team up kids to solve the clues to guess the number.

Free Hundreds Chart Printable

Hundreds Chart

2. Number Detectives

This math classroom game for grade 2 will have your students playing detectives and using their number sense to guess the number.

Similar to Number Guess who, this game is more challenging as it is entirely student led.

How To Play:

1. Divide the students into two groups – detectives and informers.

2. Write numbers upto 50 on the whiteboard.

3. The teacher chooses a number and shares it with the informers without telling the detectives.

4. Each informer must present a clue to help the detective guess the correct number. After all the clues have been shared, the detectives work together to find out the correct number.

Related: Club these Math classroom activities with Silly Math Jokes & Puns to add humour to learning!

3. Name Pattern

This is a hands-on classroom game to teach patterns and help children identify them. And the best part, children learn to identify the pattern hiding within their names.

How to Play:

1. Print the number pattern free printable. You will need one for each student.

2. Students write their names in the bubbles and repeat it till all the bubbles are filled.

3. Students select one letter from their name and colour all the bubbles it appears in.

4. Identify the pattern of the letter in their name.

Free Printable of Name Pattern Math Classroom Game

Name Pattern

4. Musical Number Bonds

This is a super fun math activity for students that will get them moving and dancing. Easy to play, this math classroom game truly gamifies learning number bonds.

Supplies Needed:

· Sticky notes

· Sharpie

· Paper plates

· Music

How To Play:

1. Assign a unique number, written on a sticky note, to each child. Once they read the number, they can stick it on their shirt.

2. Write at least 3 number bonds corresponding to each number on paper plates and place them all around the classroom.

3. The task is to find the number bond while the music is still playing. If the students find their number bond, they pick up a plate and stand on the spot.

4. Students who have not found their number bond when the music stops, get eliminated.

5. The first student to find all their number bonds wins the game.

This game is like a math version of the classic game of musical chairs and great for young kids who like to move.

Quick Tip: Check out these Addition & Subtraction Math Games for young learner.

5. Action Math Dice 

A fun math class game, this one clubs physical activities with fundamental math operations. Action Math enhances your students’ mathematical understanding through interactive play.

Materials Needed:

One Action Dice: Use our free printable pdf template to make the dice. Write different activities on all the faces of the cube. You can have six activities on each face and number them. Think of fun activities like jump, hop and swirl!

2 Regular Dice

How to Play:

1. Students roll the two regular dice. The teacher decides whether to add or subtract the numbers rolled. If your kids know multiplication, you can also ask them to multiply. 

2. Suppose, one dice reads 6 and the other reads 5. You can ask them to add/subtract/multiply the numbers.

Suppose you ask them to multiply the numbers, the result is 30. The student has to perform the activity written on the 30th number in the action dice. 

Action Dice Free Printable

Action Dice Printable

6. Say Buzz!

“Say Buzz” is a fun classroom math game for grade 1 and above that will test students’ presence of mind besides math skills! 

A great math game to practise multiplication math facts as well as prime numbers.

How to Play:

1. Choose your preferred “Buzz” Numbers. These buzz numbers can be anything— multiples of 3, a number with “seven” in it, five’s multiples, etc. 

2. The goal: You have to create a buzz sound instead of saying the buzz number. Suppose the buzz numbers are 3, 6, 9… and so on.

3. Let all students stand or sit in a circle and start counting from one with each student calling out a number. If a student’s number is a “Buzz” number, they should say “Buzz” instead of the actual number else they are out!

4. The game continues till all the players but one are eliminated.

Quick Tip: Make sure to throw in some Teacher Jokes to make your math class fun!

7. High Low

This is a math card game that doubles up as an exciting addition and subtraction game to play in the classroom!

Divide the entire class into two teams and keep score. The team with the most points wins the game! 

Related: Include Brain Teasers in classroom learning to sharpen thinking skills.

8. Number Bingo

Number Bingo is a truly versatile math classroom game that can be used to practise different math skills.

Instead of calling out the numbers, you state math facts and let your students figure out the answer before they cross the number on their bingo cards.

Download Free Number Bingo Cards

Number Bingo Printable

9. Simon Says

Simon Says is a fun game to engage your students in math class. The game also includes physical activities, such as jumping, running, hopping, etc., so kids are bound to love this one! Remember, you only jump, roll, or skip when Simon adds ‘Simon says’ to their command.

How to Play: 

Appoint a Simon for the game, a leader who gives command. The Simon of the game can be changed after 10-15 rounds (commands). 

Make a list of funny commands, but they should have math involvement. Here are a few examples: 

1. “Simon says, hop four times ahead and two times back.” 

2. “Simon says, swirl 3X2 times ” 

3. “Simon says, jump three times, clap four times, and flap 10 times.” 

4. “Simon says, count all the circles in this classroom.” 

If Simon doesn’t add ‘Simon says’ to the command, don’t follow their commands! Only do the action if Simon says “Simon says” first!

Make the instructions trickier as the game progresses. This game can be used as a Fun Brain Break between math lessons to boost students’ learning and attention.

10. Bean Bag Toss

This is an easy classroom math game to teach place value to kids. What you would need is bins labelled with place value and bean bags.

How To Play:

Assign different numbers to students.

Students take turns tossing the bean bags into bins to make the number assigned to them.

Related: Include these Fun Dice Games to sneak in math, literacy & fun in your class!

11. Line Up

In this classroom math game for grade 1, students stand in a line according to their allotted number. The teacher decides whether the students stand in ascending order or descending order. 

How to Play:

1. Make paper slips with different numbers relevant to the student’s learning level. Shuffle them in a bowl and let each student pick one slip. 

2. Their task: The students have to arrange themselves in ascending numerical order, starting from the smallest number and ending with the largest.

3. Set a timer for around 5 minutes. During this time, students should interact with one another, discuss their numbers, and organize themselves in the line according to their assigned numbers.

This game encourages communication and social skills besides working on number sense. You can easily convert it into a math game for grade 4 and above by including decimals, fractions or negative numbers.

Math Games For Grade 3

The below Math classroom games and activities target addition, subtraction, multiplication along basic algebraic thinking & pattern recognition to build logic. 

These math activities for the classroom will keep children actively involved in learning, boost their attention and brighten student moods.

12. String Multiplication

This is a hands-on classroom game for grade 3 for practising multiplication and pattern recognition. A fun STEAM math activity, it is sure to get children to explore math around their environment, beyond textbooks.

How To Play:

1. Divide students in a group of ten and have them sit in a circle. Each child is assigned a number from one to ten

2. Hand a ball of yarn to each group. Assign a number to each group and let them pass the yarn to make a web according to the multiples of that number.

For example: Group assigned number 6 will pass the yarn from number 0, 6, 2, 8 to 4 and so on, just considering the unit value of the multiples of 6, to make a web of yarn till they spot the pattern.

This wonderful classroom math activity for 7 year olds and above will help children not only master their multiplication tables but also identify patterns in seemingly random numbers.

13. Can You Make It?

It is a great classroom math game for elementary students and will encourage kids to think critically and use their creativity to arrive at the answer.

How To Play:

1. Each student receives a sticky note with a random number scribbled on it.

2. The teacher then writes a target number on the chalkboard. Students use addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division to create equations that achieve the targeted number. 

Students can use each number once only to reach the target number. 

Two ways you can make the game trickier:

1. Along with the targeted number; limit your students to only use a set of allotted numbers. 

For example:

Random number: 5, Targeted number: 70, Allotted numbers: 7, 2, 1, 4, 5

Solution: 7*2*5 = 70

For Random Slip number 6, solution could be (6+4) x 7

For Random Slip number 3, solution could be (3×4+2)x5

2. Another and even better way is to ask students to reach the targeted number by only using one additional number, not more than that. 

For example:

Random slip: 7, Targeted number: 343

Solution: 7 x 49 = 343. So, in this case, we used only one additional number that is 49.

You can easily increase the difficulty level by using higher math concepts to make it a math classroom game for middle school as well as high school.

14. Math Square Puzzles

Make addition and subtraction math problems challenging with Math Square Puzzles. These puzzles will challenge kids to use addition and subtraction while satisfying certain conditions.

Great for logical reasoning, these puzzles are highly entertaining and a perfect way to gamify math.

How To Play:

Print the puzzle or share it on the whiteboard and let your class solve it within a stipulated time. The first student or group to correctly solve the math square earns a point.

Related: Sneak in Math Quiz Questions (with Answers) for Kids for some math fun!

15. Math Charades

Played like the classic charades, this math classroom game for grade 3 and above challenges kids to guess the math phrase.

Simply download our free printable Math Charade Cards and let the fun begin.

Download Math Charades Game Free Printable

Math Charades Printable

16. Jeopardy 

One of the most loved classroom activities for math, Jeopardy is a team game that helps practise a host of math concepts – Arithmetic, Geometry, Number system to name a few.

How to Play:

1. Divide the chalkboard into 3 parts, each for a different math topic like multiplication, fractions, and geometry.

2. Write down math questions for each topic with different difficulty levels. Allot different points for each difficulty. Easy questions could be worth 10 points, medium ones 20 points, and tough ones 30 points.

Quick Tip: Use these Math Riddles as questions.

1. You can divide the class into four teams! 

2. Teams take turns picking questions from the board. 

3. If their answer is correct, they win the points. If they answer incorrectly, one point is deducted from their total count. 

4. Keep track of points on the board. The team with the most points at the end wins!

Math games for 4th Graders

Gamify math for grade 4 students with these fun classroom games. These classroom math games are great at building math acumen and help students put their math skills to test in a fun, hands-on way!

17. Run & Measure

This is a simple math activity for kids learning how to estimate and measure. Easy and simple to set-up in class, this math game will encourage students to collaborate and work together

How To Play:

1. Divide the class into groups of 4.

2. Assign an object and a standard ruler to each group and place it far away from them.

3. Each group must first estimate how many foot spans away is the object. After they have finalised their estimate and written it on a paper, they measure how many foot spans the object is.

4. Lastly, each group must come up with their estimate and correct answers in cms. To convert their foot span into cms, the students will have to convert their foot span into centimetres using a ruler.

This math game can easily be played solo and is a perfect math activity for kids at home.

Tip: Before you hop-on to the next activity, recharge students with a Fun Brain Break.

18. Call The Number

This math classroom game is sort of a math quiz. The idea is to throw a random question and build more questions from the answer of the first question.

How To Play:

1. Divide the class into pairs of two or maximum groups of three. Each team works together using pen and paper.

2. Start with simple calculation and keep adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing from the result of the last instruction. For example:

First Instruction: 2+2 (this will be result 1)

Second Instruction: Result 1 multiplied by 7 (this will be result 2)

Third Instruction:  Result 2 divided by 14 and so on.

3. Give at least 5 instructions for every session of the game to make the game longer and challenging. You can have as many sessions as possible depending upon the time availability. 

4. Students must solve the questions promptly and show their work on paper in the end. The team that answered most of the sessions correctly wins the game.

This is a fast paced classroom math game for grade 4 and above. It will check their mental math prowess and math calculation speed.

19. Critical Thinking Puzzles

Make 4th grade math fun and boost lateral thinking, logical reasoning with critical thinking math puzzles.

These puzzles are a wonderful printable resource for math centres and a great way to practice arithmetic skills.

You can divide the students into pairs and ask them to complete a set of puzzles together. Pair that solves the puzzles correctly and the fastest wins. 

20. Number Pattern Solver

Identifying ‘Number patterns’ is a great way to accelerate your students’ critical thinking and mathematical skills. 

Number patterns are consistent sequences of numbers. Here are a few examples to better understand:

•  2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16… and so on. In this pattern, consecutive whole numbers are continuously multiplied by 2. (2×1=2, 2×2=4, 2×3=6, 2×4=8… so on.)
•  2, 4, 16, 256, … and so on. In this pattern, the results are doubled (2×2=4, 4×4=16, 16×16=256, 256×256=65536)
• 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 108, 216… so on. In this pattern, you add results to the same number. (2+2= 4, 4+4=8, 8+8= 16… so on! 

How to Play:

1. Draw a huge circle (or any other shape!) on the chalkboard and decide on a number pattern.

2. Inside the circle, write a few numbers from your chosen pattern in a random pattern. Suppose you choose “2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 108, 216…” Add “4, 16, 64, 8, 216” to the circle. 

3. Now, establish a range of numbers for your students, say 1 to 500. You will need a bigger range if your pattern has multiplication. 

4. The task: Students have to guess the secret pattern you have chosen. 

5. Take turns as students try to guess numbers within the chosen range.

6. If a student’s guess aligns with the secret pattern, it’s placed inside the circle. If not, it’s placed outside.

Allow students to use their notebooks for solving the pattern. Whichever team guesses the pattern first wins that round! 

This is one of the most fun classroom math games that always gets students’ minds working extra hard!

21. Back 2 Back

This game will have students guessing their partner’s number through an engaging game of multiplication. This fast paced math game is a great addition to classroom as well as home.

How to Play:

1. This game is played in pairs. 

Stand back-to-back with your partner beside the chalkboard; you cannot look at what your partner is writing. 

The teacher can be the “caller.” The caller will be your guide in this game. 

2. Both players will write a random number on the board. Suppose one writes 8 and the other writes 7.

3. The Caller will prompt a random number that must be multiplied by the student by his/her current number on the chalkboard.

The caller gets to decide whether you should multiply or divide. Suppose, the caller says, “Multiply 5!” The caller will yell both answers to the class: 40 (8×5) and 35 (7×5)

Based on the answers, students figure out what their partner wrote on the chalkboard. The students who correctly answers first wins the round.

This fun classroom game will get your students in a friendly contest and test their mental math skills!

Quick Tip: Make learning new words fun with Vocabulary Games for Classroom.

22. Math Auction: Bid and Win

This math classroom game for elementary students is a great way to help them build skills for word problems. This pretend play math game invites students to bid for stationary using play money.

Aim to collect the most stationary items to win the math auction while having fun and learning about money and tactics.

Materials Needed

Play money

Assortment of stationary

How to Play:

1. Distribute $20 play money to each player.

2. Arrange the different school supplies for auction.

3. Start the auction with one item and progress till all the items are sold.

Auction Round: Eraser

• Justin bids $1.
• Lily ups the bid to $2.
• Amanda joins with a $3 bid.
• Joey decides to pass.

Amanda wins the eraser basket with a $3 bid, deducts $3 from her play money, and adds it to her collection.

Each time a player wins a basket, they pay the bid amount and collect the item. The player with the most stationary items wins the math auction! Bonus points if they manage to save money along with it.

Math Classroom Games for 5th Graders

Great at teaching fractions, algebra, factors, mental math along with team building skills, these wonderful games are certain to make math class fun and enjoyable. 

23. Sugar Math

This is a very interesting math classroom game for grade 5 and above. Besides helping children work out a math strategy, this hands-on math activity for students helps them make healthier and better choices.

What you will need:

• Candies
• Sugar sachets

How To Play:

1. Divide students into groups. Each group gets a candy bar and ten sugar sachets.

2. Each group is tasked with calculating how many sugar sachets are in their candy bar. The team that comes up with the correct answer wins the game

This activity involves multiplication, decision and most importantly logical thinking.

Students will have to read through the ingredient list of the candy bar and sugar sachet to find out how much sugar is present in each.

They will then use this knowledge to solve the math problem at hand.

It is a fun hands-on way to help students understand food choices and can be easily clubbed with Food/Nutrition unit study plan.

24. Group Fraction Game

Make learning fractions fun with this math game for students. This math classroom game for 9 year olds and above works will challenge kids and demystify fractions.

How To Play:

1. Divide the class into groups with at least 10 students in each group.

2. Teacher will write a proper fraction with big numbers that can be simplified into an equivalent fraction.

3. The group that simplifies fraction fastest and represents it correctly wins! For example: Fraction = 20/25; For this, students will first find its equivalent fraction, that is 4/5, and then divide themselves into groups of 4 and 5 students, representing numerator and denominator respectively. 

If there are extra students in the group, they can stand separately on the side of their team. 

25. Math Combinations

This is an exciting game that is played in pairs or small groups. It is a great way to get students to practise their arithmetic while building on their algebraic skills.

How To Play:

1. Each group will start with one math expression/equation written on paper. For example: 8-4 = 4

2. Every member of the group must write another expression on the right hand side for the equation, making sure the equation remains true.

Example: 8-4 = 4= 10-6= (10/2) – 1= (16)^1/2= 2^2 and so on

3. The game continues till the group exhausts all the expressions or runs out of time.

When making combinations, encourage your students to think of a wide variety of operations like fractions, exponents besides addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Hands-down one of the most loved classroom math games, Math combinations will make your math class fun!

26. Factor Game

To achieve the highest score possible, the team must circle all the correct factors on the chalkboard.

How to Play:

1. Write 1-100 counting on the board. They can be scattered randomly or in ascending order. 

2. Split the students into two teams. One team is the “Factor Team,” and the other is the “Whole Team.”

3. The ‘Whole team’ will give a random number to the factor team; let’s say 72.

3. The other team tries to figure out all the factors of that number within a minute (numbers that divide 72 perfectly) 

If the factor team finds all the factors, it scores points. For 72 factors are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36,

4. Teams switch roles, and the game continues with different numbers.

Keep track of points – the team with the most points is the Factor Master!

27. Math Baseball

Play baseball inside the classroom and polish your students’ mathematical skills. It also polishes their quick-learning skills; math baseball is all about speed and quick thinking! 

How to Play:

1. Divide the classroom into teams: One team bats and the other defends. (You can decide this by playing ‘Stone, Paper, and Scissors)

2. Draw a big baseball diamond on the chalkboard. You will need different colored magnet counters for each team. You can use magnet Lego bricks because this math baseball is played on the board! 

3. Prepare math questions for different levels. Try to level up the difficulty as the game intensifies. 

4. The batting team sends a player to answer a question.

If they answer correctly, they move their magnetic brick from the home plate to first base. Each student can answer one question at a time. 

If the second student guesses the right answer; they can move the magnet from base 1 to base 2 and so on until they reach the home plate. Each team would need to give four correct answers to reach the home plate and score a run! 

The defending team can try to answer if the batting team cannot guess the correct answer.

5. Whenever the batting team fails to answer; it’s called an out. Three outs mean the teams switch roles – the batting team becomes defensive, and vice versa.

28. Prime or Not

In this interesting game of “Prime or Not,” students have to decide whether the given number is  “prime” or “composite.” To make things interesting; convert this game into a buzzer round. 

How To Play:

1. Split the students into four/five teams. 

2. The teacher will write a number on a whiteboard and show it to the students. Whoever pushes the buzzer fastest gets to guess whether the number is prime or not. 

If they are wrong; the remaining teams can fight to guess the number. Again, whoever (From the remaining three teams) pushes the buzzer faster after the count of 1,2,3 gets to answer. 

3. The spokesperson has to explain why they think the number is prime or composite.

4. Each correct answer and explanation receives +4 points. If the students press the buzzer with a wrong answer; the penalty is -1 from their total points earned. 

29. Fraction Dice Game

“Roll dice & Compare Fractions” involves a great amount of luck and knowledge of bigger/smaller fractions. 

How to Play:

1. Split the students into two different teams! Let each team have a pair of dice. 

2. A player from both teams would come for a face-off one by one.

3. The players will roll their dice to reveal the numbers they get. 

Fraction Time: The smaller number becomes the numerator, and the bigger number becomes the denominator.

4. Students compare your fractions using the correct method. The bigger fraction wins a point for that round.

Keep playing rounds and earn points. The first team to score 10 points becomes the fraction champion!

30. Fraction Pictionary

Fraction Pictionary is a creative game to highlight your drawing skills and learn fractions on the go! 

How to Play:

1. This can be played in bigger teams. Split the students into two/four teams. 

2. Now, prepare 10-20 fraction Pictionary cards as shown in the image below. 

3. Play ‘Stone, paper, and scissors’ to decide who comes first to draw/guess the fraction card. 

4. A player from Team A will come to the chalkboard, choose a fraction card and draw what’s written on that fraction card. The player cannot speak anything; they can only draw. 

Student draws the object, mentioned on the card that represents a fraction, like “⅓ of a tree”, carefully giving visual hints about the fraction and the object.

5. The students’s team has to guess the fraction. If they get it right, they score a point.

The first team to win 7 points wins the math games!

FAQ