Math board/card games?

[mindygz]

Or games I can make up myself?

 

I just received Sum Swamp in the mail today and am super excited about playing it with the kids. I would like to have math game time at least once a week, maybe more, so I'd love more math game ideas. So far, we are only at addition/subtraction, but any others I'll file away for future reference.

 

Thanks!

[Ellie]

There's the Wonder Number Game. It might be pricier than what you had in mind, but it's a way cool game.

[scrapbookbuzz]

Both of my children learned to count WELL, and work on spatial reasoning, playing Sorry!

[m0mmaBuck]

For Math, we like Sum Swamp, Math War (we have Addition/Subtraction AND Multiplication), and Pizza Math. PayDay (love the old version, not the newer ones) is great for money math and counting. Monopoly is another good one for money (but I personally despise Monopoly, probably due to scars of my youth, and leave that game to DH). Hi Ho Cherry-O is good for addition and subtraction. Yahtzee uses quite a bit of math (number recognition, addition, patterns). Good ol' BlackJack (21) is great for adding on the fly.

 

There is a game called Sleeping Queens that uses logic, multiple rules, pairs, and addition. DD4 plays like a champ even though it's meant for older kids. It's a favorite here.

[Kate in Arabia]

My kids like Dino Math Tracks. I also bought some card games similar to this; my kids like playing the regular War card game, so this was ok with them as well..

Edited September 10, 2010 by Kate in Arabia
edited to fix link

[rafiki]

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[NanceXToo]

We have "Fun By The Numbers" (preschool), Totally Tut (elementary school), The Allowance Game (elementary school), Make A Pie (simple fractions) and stuff like that- of course things like Monopoly and Life are good for money skills, and in any game "keeping score" is math.

 

If you want to work on addition, subtraction, or multiplication, you can play a "Memory"/"Concentration" game with a deck of cards, and whenever someone finds a match, they have to (for example) multiply the numbers on the cards before they can keep their match. You can also do that while playing War.

 

There are also electronic games... my daughter has MathBlaster for DS. She enjoyed playing Timez Attack and different games on multiplication.com for example.

[Jane Elliot]

We like these: http://activitiesforlearning.com/mathcardgames.aspx from Right Start.

 

I don't use Right Start curriculum, just these games. There are tons of ideas here and my kids love them.

 

Muggins is a lot of fun, too, for about 2nd grade and up, after they've learned to multiply.

 

Rummikub is good for all ages.

[robsiew]

Monopoly is another good one for money (but I personally despise Monopoly, probably due to scars of my youth, and leave that game to DH).

 

:lol::lol::lol: Sorry, I wonder how many other people have scars from Monopoly?? I'm so right there with you! My kids were into Jr. Monopoly for awhile and I had to suck it up... luckily they aren't too into the reg. version.

[Farrar]

For the 5 year old or the 8 year old or both?

 

We really like Rat-a-Tat-Cat. You have to swap cards to get the lowest score and then add up your cards at the end. The makers, Gamewright, make a number of pretty inexpensive, fun card games that incorporate some math - many of them are sold at Target or Wal-Mart or other major stores.

 

We have a tic-tac-toe game called Roll to Add that I thought looked a bit silly, but has turned out to be popular with the kids. You put down the number that you rolled on the tic-tac-toe board, but if someone rolls it, they can take it over.

 

I also love the classic game 24, where you have to add, multiply, subtract or divide to get to the number 24. Good for mental math. There's a simpler version for just addition and subtraction. And there's S'math, which is like math scrabble.

 

There are also lots of good strategy games that aren't number based but help kids learn math thinking skills. Some of them, like Rush Hour or Mighty Mind or Castle Logix are all solitaire games, which can be good when you have two kids of different abilities.

[m0mmaBuck]

:lol::lol::lol: Sorry, I wonder how many other people have scars from Monopoly?? I'm so right there with you! My kids were into Jr. Monopoly for awhile and I had to suck it up... luckily they aren't too into the reg. version.

 

Monopoly in our house was a 2-3 hour game full of taunting ("Ha, you landed on Boardwalk and I have 5 bazillion hotels on it and now you owe me all of your money and you lose! Ha!"). And if my siblings were doing poorly, they would either just up and quit. It was just never much fun to play those type of games with my siblings.

[Violet Crown]

My dh (who had to teach the Intro Logic cattle-call course until tenure freed him from the noxious burden) insists that Mastermind (there's also a children's version) is the best game for preparation for real mathematical thinking around. He always wished his freshman had been made to play it before they decided to be Comp Sci majors.

 

You can play it the old-fashioned way, with pencil and paper, for free. For an extra challenge, you can play it verbally only, so that you have to remember all previous guesses. Dh and I used to do that back in pre-child days, when my brain still worked.

[Guest]

My kids like Dino Math Tracks. I also bought some card games similar to this; my kids like playing the regular War card game, so this was ok with them as well..

 

Even my math-o-phobe loved Dino Math Tracks. I still kind of fail to see why, unless it's just handling the little dinos?

[Cindyz]

My son LOVES Sleeping Queens and Rat a Tat Cat. He would play them all day if he could. When we are tired of playing, he will play with his stuffed animals.

 

I've also been drooling over Muggins Math and will certainly get this for birthday coming up or Christmas.

Edited September 10, 2010 by Cindyz

[SnMomof7]

We are working on mastering addition facts (MUS Alpha), and I'm supplementing with "addition war". Basically, it's war, I've taken out the jacks, queens, kings, aces are ones, and when we pull a card, we need to add the number we're playing with.

 

So we do 'war plus 1', 'war plus 2' etc. In 'war plus 1' if I pull a three I need to say, "Three plus one equals four." Then she pulls a five and says, "Five plus one equals six." She wins the cards.

 

She loves it. Asks to play every day! Would work the same way for subtraction and multiplication :).

[ChiknGirl]

We've used the file folder games from Integritas Academy as well as lots of games from Family Math by Jean Kerr Stenmark.

[ScoutTN]

Rack-o is a fun sequencing game. Not made anymore, but you can get it on Ebay easily.

[mindygz]

Awesome, thanks so much everyone! I'd forgotten about Math War, I think we'll try that one right away with our regular playing cards next week, though the "Math War" cards look great, too, and are super cheap at Amazon. I'll probably get them with my next order.

 

And now I'm coveting that Muggins game. That looks awesome!

 

Thanks again! My amazon wishlist is quite a bit longer now. ;)

[jwoodbri]

Subbing and asking silly question...

 

I have Right Start A and am starting it today. Do they have any of the games in the program or are all the games separate? I definitely want to do these.

Edited September 15, 2010 by jwoodbri

[5knights3maidens]

We have been using plain ol' dice. I posted on my blog (below). We will also be using dominos. I make up games. The kids love them...even the 7th grader. ;)

[mnemom]

Get the book Games for Math, by Peggy Kaye. It has tons of great ideas for simple games you can make from household items.