Math Games (Grades K-12)

Graphic: Jisun An

National Game and Puzzle Week, November 23-29

Celebrate National Game and Puzzle Week! Here are some cool math-related games. Although most of them are for middle and high school students, there's something for everybody.

Connections

Games are a fun way for students to acquire and practice math skills such as problem solving, logic, pattern recognition, and number sense. Find out which games and puzzles are popular with students, and as a class, analyze the math skills the games employ. Take the discussion one step further and explore how these skills are used in daily life. Students can also research the history of a particular game or learn about games from around the world. Some students might enjoy working in groups to create their own math games.

Web Resources

1. Clever Games for Clever People
   
   http://www.cs.uidaho.edu/~casey931/conway/games.html
   (An ENC Digital Dozen selection, ENC# 002132) Grades K-12. This web site gives the rules for games that students can create using materials on hand. Information about the mathematics behind the games is available.
   
   
2. Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles
   
   http://www.cut-the-knot.org/games.shtml
   (Part of an ENC Digital Dozen selection, ENC# 002256) Grades 5-12 and post-secondary. Visit this site for interactive games and explanations of the mathematics behind them.
   
   
3. Math Cats
   
   http://www.mathcats.com/contents.html
   (An ENC Digital Dozen selection, ENC# 019003) Grades K-8. Here are some fun activities for one person to play alone. These interactive math activities include multiplication, tesselations, money, shapes, and more.
   
   
4. CuriousMath.com
   
   http://www.curiousmath.com/
   (An ENC Digital Dozen selection, ENC# 011835) Grades 5-12. This aptly named site is filled with interesting math facts and rules for doing certain calculations. This is a good site for students who are making up their own games.
   
   
5. FunBrain.com
   
   http://www.funbrain.com/
   (An ENC Digital Dozen selection, ENC# 011932) Grades K-8. Lots of nifty math games, such as Math Baseball, Fresh Baked Fractions, Measure It, One False Move, and Tic Tac Toe Squares. Problems come in four flavors: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Super Brain.
   
   
6. Through the Glass Wall
   
   http://www.terc.edu/mathequity/gw/html/games.html
   (Part of an ENC Digital Dozen selection, ENC# 013763) Grades 1-8. This web site contains a list of more than 50 commercially available games, along with suggestions on how to make the most of the mathematics in the games.
   
   
7. Games on Graphs
   
   http://www.cs.uidaho.edu/~casey931/mega-math/workbk/graph/graph.html
   Part of the Mega Math web site (an ENC Digital Dozen selection, ENC# 002455), this site explains graph theory and terminology, presents graph games, and offers suggestions for discussion. To connect to any of the links, click on the terms at the bottom of the page. The "Big Picture" square that looks as if it should work doesn't--you just get 404 ("This page cannot be found") messages.
   
   
8. Senet--A Board Game from Ancient Egypt
   
   http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/life/activity/main.html
   This site is included, not because the math involved is engaging, but because the original rules to the early Egyptian game were lost and so experts had to work backward--from game boards and other pieces of evidence--to devise likely rules. So this site serves as a good object lesson. Some students might enjoy being presented with a game board but no rules and having to come up with their own. It would also be interesting to see what rules different groups of student might devise for the same game board.
   
   

Ready-to-Go Activities

1. Set Home Page
   
   http://setgame.com
   Grades 3-12. This web site has a Java version of the game Set. The game involves set theory and identifying patterns and attributes. A section that discusses the mathematics behind the game is provided.
   
   
2. The Maths File Game Show
   
   http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/mathsfile/index.shtml
   (An ENC Digital Dozen selection, ENC# 018786) Grades 5-9. The games on this site are both fun and funny.
   
   
3. Colorful Mathematics
   
   http://www.math.ucalgary.ca/~laf/colorful/games.html
   (Part of an ENC Digital Dozen selection, ENC# 017707) Grades K-12. The games on this site use simple computer coloring and drawing techniques to illustrate math concepts from graph theory and computer science. The focus is on problem solving and pattern recognition.
   
   
4. JAVA Gallery of Interactive Geometry
   
   http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/java/
   Grades 9-12. True to its name, this site focuses on geometry. Look especially at the leap fractal, which is both fascinating and easy to use.
   
   
5. Absurd Math
   
   http://www.learningwave.com/abmath/
   (An ENC Digital Dozen selection, ENC# 014854) Grades 5-12. This interactive game challenges players to use their math skills to negotiate the world of the Absurd Math Dimension.
   
   
6. A+ Math: Games
   
   http://www.aplusmath.com/Games/index.html
   (Part of an ENC Digital Dozen selection, ENC#021315). Grades K-4. The games on this site--Matho (a kind of Bingo), Concentration, and Hidden Pictures--will entertain students as they practice their arithmetic skills. The games are provided in both Java and non-Java.
   
   

Classroom Resources from the ENC Collection

1. Doubles + 1 cover-up
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 1997 Grade(s): 1 - 2 Cost: $1.00 ENC#: 012269
   This game involves doubling numbers from one to ten, adding one, and covering the resulting number on the game board. A reproducible game board and rules are included. A ten-sided number cube is required.
   (For more details see ENC Record)
   
   
   
2. Witzzle Pro game
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 1997 Grade(s): 1 - 8 Cost: $14.50 ENC#: 012153
   For individual or group play, this game provides practice using number facts, problem solving, and mental math.
   (For more details see ENC Record)
   
   
   
3. Match linear graphs
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 1989 Grade(s): 8 - 11 Cost: $14.50 - $92.50 ENC#: 012255
   This five-deck card game provides a visual association of linear equations and their graphs.
   (For more details see ENC Record)
   
   
   

Teacher Resources from the ENC Collection

1. Family math
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 1986 Grade(s): K - 8 Cost: $19.95 ENC#: 000589
   This book of activities and games includes all the necessary game boards.
   (For more details see ENC Record)
   
   
   
2. Math games and activities from around the world
   Date: 1998 Grade(s): 2 - 7 Cost: $14.95 ENC#: 015196
   Directions for more than 70 games, puzzles, and activities from all over the world are provided in this book.
   (For more details see ENC Record)
   
   
   
3. 1000 playthinks: puzzles, paradoxes, illusions and games
   Featured in ENC Focus  
   Date: 2001 Grade(s): 5 - Post-Sec. Cost: $29.95 ENC#: 026100
   This book alone will supply enough games and puzzles to keep you busy for years! You can choose a game by subject--for example, patterns, numbers, science, or logic and probability--and by level of difficulty, from 1 (easy) to 10 (difficult). There are games for multiple players and games for just one player. Lots of fun packed into one big book!
   (For more details see ENC Record)
   
   
   

Search Strategies

Find more materials by searching Curriculum Resources on ENC Online using these terms: Games or Mathematics.

Connections to Standards

Realizing that there are many ways to use this Classroom Calendar entry, we chose these standards because they relate to the entry, in full or in part. If you want to explore the standards further, please use the link(s) provided.

Connections to NCTM Standards
Algebra: Understand patterns, relations, and functions
Connections: Recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics
Number and Operations: Understand numbers, ways of representing numbers, relationships among numbers, and number systems
Number and Operations: Understand meanings of operations and how they relate to one another
Problem Solving: Build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving
Problem Solving: Apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems