Autumn Fun Brain Break Game - Classroom Freebies

I love using fun math games in the classroom for a variety of reasons: differentiation, brain breaks, indoor recess, or even as a behavior party reward! Students are learning and having fun – that’s a win-win combo for sure!

There are so many different ways to incorporate math games into your daily routine and students won’t even know they are practicing everything from basic math facts to advanced geometry vocabulary!

Personally, I know my daughter struggled with math facts for YEARS – even into her middle and high school grades! She never really had a chance to “play” with numbers and grasp number sense.

As she grew a little older – and less intimidated by math, she practiced math games with her little brother and BAM – it all suddenly clicked for her! Math is certainly a subject that students tend to love or hate. As educators, we hope we can develop the love for all different subjects. One way to really pull that off is by offering fun learning choices throughout the day that feel less like a chore and more like a family game night.

Math Skills to Practice

What are some skills that your students can practice while playing an educational game during your daily lessons?

Addition
Subtraction
Multiplication
Division
Fact Families
Prime Numbers
Integers
Fractions
…and pretty much any other math-related lesson you may be teaching!

How do you keep studets on track and not just “farting around” with manipulatives and game pieces?

Simple! A very wise math instructional coach taught me this trick: Give the students the game pieces first and set a timer for 60 seconds. They get 1 minute to play and get it out of their system. At the end of the 60 seconds, the toys now become learning materials and they are not to be played with as a toy any longer.

This one small change of thought patterns made all the difference with third graders! They suddenly went from playing with the manipulatives to using them for the process when their timer was done. It was a math miracle!