Mental maths activities year 2: Year 2 Maths Mental-Oral Starters

Posted on 10 февраля, 2022 by alexxlab

Year 2 Maths Mental-Oral Starters

Get your maths lesson going with a bang!

Each term, we provide 48 starters – enough for 4 per week for 12 weeks – plus 3 sets of 12 ‘Fun-Fair Friday’ tests.
Starters are categorised under key mathematical skills – see headings below.
ALL starters in Counting, Exploring place value and Addition & Subtraction are FREE to download. Others are only available to Friends of Hamilton and School subscribers.
In each download, expect starters further down the list to get slightly harder. Most starters include a couple of quite challenging questions!
Starters with an E at the end of the download filename are easier, as they revisit skills from Year 1 or from previous terms.

In Autumn, children count on or back in 1s, being able to say the next number (one more) or the number before (one less) than any given number. They also rehearse counting in steps of 2, 5, 10 and 3. Counting in twos can be from an odd or even number. In Spring and Summer, counts of 3, 5 or 10 may not start on a multiple.

Autumn: Count on and back in 1s (7) | Count in 2s, 5s, 10s and 3s (4)
Spring: Count on and back in 1s (4) | Count in 2s, 5s, 10s and 3s (4)
Summer: Count on and back in 1s (4) | Count in 2s, 5s, 10s and 3s (4)

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Children partition numbers into tens and ones. They read numbers, recombining the parts. They compare numbers and place them in order. Finally, they place and identify numbers on a line or on the 1-100 grid. In Summer, they write inequalities to compare numbers, using < or >.

Autumn: 2-digit Place Value (3) | Compare and order 2-digit numbers (8) | Place 2-digit numbers on a line or grid (5)
Spring: 2-digit place value (4) | Compare & order 2-digit numbers (4) | Place numbers on a line or grid (6)
Summer: 2-digit place value (4) | Compare & order numbers (4) | Place numbers on a track, line or grid (3)

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Children rehearse number bonds to 10, applying this to add to the next multiple of 10. They recall pairs of numbers adding to 7, 8 and 9, along with subtraction facts for numbers to 20. They recognise and identify unit patterns, using these to develop fluency in mental addition and subtraction. In Spring, children begin to rehearse unit patterns that cross – ‘bridge’ – a 10 when adding and subtracting, and practise counting on in 10s and 1s to add. In Summer, they count back in 1s or 10s to subtract.

Autumn: Addition and subtraction number bonds and pairs (6) | Unit patterns in addition and subtraction (5)
Spring: Count on in 10s & 1s to add (2) | Number bonds & pairs (6) | Unit patterns, including bridging 10 (5)
Summer: Count on in 10s & 1s to add (2) | Count back in 10s or 1s to subtract (2) | Number bonds & pairs (6) | Unit patterns, including bridging 10 (5)

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In Autumn, each starter takes one or more times tables as a focus, practising multiplication facts for the 2x, 5x, 10x and 3x tables. In the easier tables (2x and 10x) we add some tricky questions intended to pose a challenge outside simple recall of facts. Some children will love this. Encourage all children to have a go! In Spring, division facts are introduced, separate from multiplication facts; in Summer, the two are rehearsed side by side.

Autumn: Times tables (4)
Spring: Multiplication facts (3) | Division facts (2)
Summer: Tables and division (5)

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Children rehearse known facts, e.g. double 6 is 12 and half of 18 is 9. They need to ensure fluency, recognising the simple doubles such as double 3, and identifying numbers that are easy to halve, such as 6.
In Spring, children calculate or recall simple unit fractions of amounts, supported by whole-part images. In Summer, they also calculate 2/3 and 3/4 of amounts.

Autumn: Doubling and halving numbers (2)
Spring: Double and halve (2) | Fractions of amounts (2)
Summer: Double and halve (2) | Fractions of amounts (2)

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In Autumn, children look at coins and practise swift and confident identification. By Spring, they are using place value to count/ combine totals as well as counting up to find change from 10p, 20p and 50p. In Summer, they begin to find change from £1.
In Autumn, children rehearse telling the time to the hour and half hour on analogue clocks. Telling time to the quarter hour is introduced in Spring and secured in Summer.

Autumn: Coin recognition (2) | Tell the time (2)
Spring: Money — totals and change (2) | Telling the time (2)
Summer: Money — totals and change (2) | Telling the time (2)

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The tests each have ten questions and are fun to do as children compete not against each other, but against their PB (personal best). Each week, they see where they have got to on the Fun-Fair Height Chart – which rides will they be able to do?
Choose a test to fit the Starters you have done this week. Download the Tests Overview to make your choice.

FREE Everything You Need To Teach Year 2 Mental Maths Worksheets

In Year 2 mental maths, children are really starting to hone their mental maths skills, building on prior learning from EYFS and Year 1. As well as working towards the Key Stage 1 SATs, children are gaining confidence in the four main operations – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division (although they may only know these last two as doubling and halving to start with).

Maths in Year 2

In Year 2, maths lessons likely include a 10 minute mental maths practice session. This may incorporate elements of rote learning (of times tables for example), mental maths games or quick quizzes to test rapid recall of known facts. These would be based on prior learning and this daily check supports the practice of retrieving that information regularly. Although rote learning plays a part, this will build on conceptual understanding – taught with manipulatives (physical resources such as cubes or beads) in the main part of a lesson.

What the national curriculum says about Year 2 mental maths

The National Curriculum for England states that, “The principal focus of mathematics teaching in key stage 1 is to ensure that pupils develop confidence and mental fluency with whole numbers, counting and place value. This should involve working with numerals, words and the four operations, including with practical resources [for example, concrete objects and measuring tools]”.

Specifically, Year 2 pupils are expected to “recall and use multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 multiplication tables” and “recall and use addition and subtraction facts to 20 fluently, and derive and use related facts up to 100”. Although, mental maths is not simply about recalling facts, but is focused on the understanding of the workings out required, and being able to apply known facts appropriately.

Year 2 SATs tests do not have a separate mental maths paper but by the end of Year 2 they will use their mental maths to help them with answering maths questions.

Fluent in Five Years 1-6 (Weeks 1-6)

This popular pack of daily maths questions will help your students to build fluency in maths and develop their mental maths skills.

Recommended mental maths skills to teach in Year 2

Year 2 mental maths: number bonds

In Year 2 children will need to know their number bonds to 20 and know doubles up to 20. They will need to add on in steps of 2, 3 and 5 from 0, as well as in steps of 10 from any number. Adding one-digit numbers to two-digit numbers is usually first taught in ways such as using physical counters. Strategies such as ‘keeping the big number in your head and counting on to add the small number’ are introduced as part of the mental maths strategies in Key Stage 1.

Addition and subtraction facts to 20 are also important in children’s mental maths capability. They would also need to know how to add near doubles i.e. 5 + 4.

The following table includes some other key number facts to work on before Year 3. Although you would not expect children in Key Stage 1 to undertake a lot of formal mental maths tests, rapid recall is important so these will be practised regularly.

Number facts children should know by the end of Year 2

Year 2 mental maths: place value

During Key Stage 2, pupils need to learn the place value for numbers up to 100, and should recognise the place value of any digit in a two-digit number. They should also be able to use place value to solve a range of simple maths problems. This knowledge will continue to be built on in Year 3 and as they learn more about place value in KS2.

Mental maths worksheets have a place within mental maths strategies too and form the building blocks which help children to have a concrete understanding of the mental maths strategies they are using. We have ten KS1 and KS2 place value games available as printables for teaching place value which include lesson ideas and manipulative recommendation to support mathematical understanding.

Year 2 mental maths: addition and subtraction

Children are expected to learn partitioning of numbers to help them with addition and subtraction. This will support adding 1 digit numbers added to 2 digit numbers, for example 26 + 3. Pupils are required to fluently use addition facts and subtraction facts up to 20 and work with related facts up to 100.

Addition and subtraction understanding builds firmly on children’s secure knowledge of number bonds and place value. A multitude of written methods are introduced when teaching addition and subtraction at Key Stage 2. Written methods help to apply mathematical knowledge to bigger numbers, and pupils’ mental maths confidence grows alongside this developing understanding of the concepts behind the operations.

Example of a Third Space Learning Year 2 maths intervention slide focussing on the concept of addition and subtraction as inverse operations

Year 2 mental maths: multiplication and division

An understanding of multiplication and division usually starts with doubling and halving in Year 1 and this continues into Year 2 where times tables are also practiced for the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. Rapid recall of times tables facts helps to reduce the cognitive load when pupils are applying number facts to solve worded problems.

It is important for Year 2 to understand that multiplication is a form of repeated addition – adding together equal groups – as this is often the first building block for learning about times tables, following on from doubling. Early understanding of this concept in Key Stage 1 will save Key Stage 2 teachers from later trying to fix misconceptions.

Read more: How to Teach Times Tables So Pupils Learn Instant Recall From KS1 To KS2

Year 2 mental maths: fractions, percentages and decimals

Fractions in Year 2 will often be taught in terms of physical ‘sharing’ of items such as cake or pizza. Teaching resources can include paper plates cut into fractions. Manipulatives will also be used to look at ‘sharing’ out a number of items.

Although mental maths is assumed to mean simply “working out in your head” i. e. not using any paper or pen or physical objects, there is a lot of ‘concrete’ practice required to ensure that mathematical understanding goes past simple rote learning and regurgitation. A maths assessment should include checking that pupils fully understand the concept behind the pure numbers.

Understanding fractions in Year 2 ensures that later in their primary school years pupils can apply this solid understanding to decimals and percentages.

The importance of mental maths skills in Year 2 problem solving

We know that children typically find reasoning questions the hardest to answer in Year 6 SATs and this is often due to not enough practice from an early point. Reasoning questions, even at the simplest level, help to assess the true understanding of maths concepts. It is the application of the knowledge which really ‘tests’ that children know that which cannot be learnt simply by memorising the answer sheet.

Multi-step word problems come in even in early mental maths and even in the home i. e. “How much does this cost and will I be able to afford that other toy as well as this one?” In a real life setting children are used to thinking about more than one step, although the practice of doing this in the more ‘abstract’ classroom practice relies on a solid understanding of number, alongside appropriate examples which relate to the experiences of the pupil.

Read more: 2-Step Word Problems and Multi-Step Word Problems in KS2 Maths

Year 2 mental maths challenges

As with all maths challenges all the way to Key Stage 2, any tasks should stretch a child and move past their comfort zone, without removing confidence by expecting a level of number skill they have not reached. It should be an opportunity to apply known number facts but in ways which extend their use of those facts, use rapid recall, and think beyond the tasks which have been modelled by the teacher already in a lesson.

Mental maths challenges might involve applying known number facts to a new area such as time, or measurement. It may involve also looking at number sentences with missing numbers to encourage them to apply what they know in order to solve the problem.

An example of a money challenge could be asking children to work out how many 2p coins they would need to pay for something costing 10p in a shop. Then what coins would you need if you wanted to buy 2 of those same things – costing 10p each? You may need to support this with pictures. Through assessment of the answers given, you can incrementally make the challenge harder or try it with multiple options such as some 5ps and 2ps. Hopefully children are already spotting patterns and will be able to suggest multiple solutions to finding 20p.

Year 2 mental maths resources – moving past worksheets

Worksheets can be useful in helping pupils to practise maths skills, and many in Year 2 will include pictorials to replicate the manipulatives used in class. They may also use images to help pupils to align the maths they are learning with real life problems such as shopping for toys.

Our Third Space Learning maths hub offers a wide range of interactive resources, games and maths activities for every year group. Membership to our maths hub has already assisted hundreds of maths teachers, providing them with resource packs, workbooks and powerpoints of maths questions to deploy in class.

In addition to the maths hub, Third Space Learning’s one-to-one online tuition is a great resource to help those students who need a little extra support in maths. Catered to each individual child’s needs we aim to build pupils’ confidence and fluency in maths.

Take a look at some of the other great resources that Third Space Learning provides to help your class excel in mental maths:

150 Mental Maths Questions And Answers For Year 3 to Year 6
10 Minute Maths Number Facts
Mental Maths Year 3
Mental Maths Year 4
Mental Maths Year 5
Mental Maths Year 6

Do you have pupils who need extra support in maths?
Every week Third Space Learning’s maths specialist tutors support thousands of pupils across hundreds of schools with weekly online 1-to-1 lessons and maths interventions designed to plug gaps and boost progress.

Since 2013 we’ve helped over 125,000 primary and secondary school pupils become more confident, able mathematicians. Learn more or request a personalised quote for your school to speak to us about your school’s needs and how we can help.

Primary school tuition targeted to the needs of each child and closely following the National Curriculum.

Mental Starters | Teaching Ideas

2D Art

2D Shape

Addition and Subtraction

Andy Goldsworthy

Angles

Area

Assemblies linked to events

Assessment

Athletics

Author Resources

Autism Resources

Averages

Camping

Christianity

Colours in Languages

Commas

Comparing and Ordering

Composition

Conjunctions and Connectives

Control Technology

Cutting and Scissor Skills

Daily Time Fillers

Developing Confidence

Doubling

Draw a Cartoon

Emotions

Energy

Experiments and Investigations

French Numbers

German Numbers

Grammar

Greek Colours

Historical Sources

Homophones

Line in Art

Lithuanian Numbers

Magnets

Microorganisms

Number

Paragraphs

Place Value

Planning Stories

Reading Instructions

Remembrance

Reward Resources

Rocks and Soils

Social Media Skills

Spanish Introductions

Special Needs

Spelling

Symmetry and Reflection

The Stone Age

Volcanoes

Warm Up Ideas

Writing Discussion Texts

3D Art

3D Shape

Andy Warhol

Animals and Habitats

Aztecs

BoardMaker resources

Capacity

Celebrating Birthdays

Dance

Databases

Dictionary Skills

Draw a Photo

End of year assemblies

English Time Fillers

Estimation

Fieldwork

French Colours

Full Stops and Capital Letters

Geometry

German Colours

Good Relationships

Graphs

Greek Numbers

Grouping Materials

Handwriting

Hinduism

Instruments

Lithuanian Colours

Looking after Money

Multiplication and Division

Nouns Adjectives Verbs and Adverbs

Number Patterns

Numbers in Languages

Parachute Activities

Pattern and Symmetry in Art

Perimeter

Punctuation

Reading Reports

Reward Notes

School Uniforms

Spanish Numbers

Spelling Patterns

Story Characters

The Iron Age

Time Fillers

Times Tables

Writing Explanations

Addition

Area and Perimeter

Assemblies linked to subjects

Bridget Riley

Britain since 1948

Changing Materials

Circuits and Electricity

Classroom Countdowns

Classroom Management

Colour

Drawing Resources

Dyspraxia Resources

Estimation Time Fillers

Factors

Football and Soccer

Games

Global Geography

Healthy Lifestyles

Hundred Square Activities

Image Editing

Inverted Commas

Islam

Listening Skills

Measure

Probability

Question Words

Reading

Reading Fiction

Reading Persuasive Writing

Reward Ideas

Sign Language

Space in Art

Spanish Holidays and Special Occasions

Spelling Tips and Ideas

Story Settings

The Bronze Age

Writing Fiction

Writing Instructions

Assemblies

Classroom Rewards

Drawing and Sketching

Early Human History

Earth and Beyond

Frank Stella

French

Judaism

Local Geography

Maths Time Fillers

Mental Starters

Multimedia

Musical Elements

Negative Numbers

Playing an Active Role

Question Marks

Reading Non Fiction

Sorting

Spanish Colours

Sports

Story Writing Ideas

Subtraction

Suffixes and Prefixes

Swimming

Synonyms and Antonyms

Volume

Writing

Writing Non Fiction

Writing Persuasive Writing

Cool Down Ideas

Coordinates

Display Tips and Resources

Egyptians

Elements of Art

Forces

German

Kandinsky

Maps and Atlases

Memory Time Fillers

Multiplication

Notation

Odd and Even

Problem Solving

Reading Poetry

Sikhism

Spanish Food and Drink

Speaking and Listening

Sports Day

Spreadsheets

Words linked to Speech

Writing Poetry

Writing Recounts

Division

Finish the Picture

Finishing Work

Greek

Greeks

Gymnastics

Human Biology

Length

Lowry

Mountains

Puzzle Time Fillers

Reflecting on Reading

Rounding

Spanish Time

Statistics

The Internet

Vocabulary

Writing Reports

All Four Operations

Gaining Attention

Learning from and about Artists

Light

Lithuanian

Mass and Weight

Maya

Monet

Natural Disasters

Spanish Weather

Tennis

Word Processing

Fractions

Managing Breaks

Materials

Picasso

Rivers

Romans

Spanish

Spanish Animals

Time

Decimals

Moving Around

Plants

Tudors

Urdu

Van Gogh

Water

Percentages

Planning

Sound

Victorians

Weather

Ratio and Proportion

School Club Resources

Vikings

Money

Tidying

World War 1

Algebra

Transition Activities

World War 2

Picture Puzzles

Working with Parents

Phonics

Art

Computing

English

Geography

History

Languages

Maths

Music

How To Make Mental Math Fun

Last week I talked about why mental math matters and how to teach 5 key mental math skills. Now I want to share a few games that my students love that keep mental math practice fun—even for kids who say they don’t like math.

You’ll find a game for each of the 5 key mental math concepts: counting on, near doubles, compatible numbers, partitioning, and estimating. Some are perfect for students to play in pairs in class or sent home to play with a parent, guardian, sibling or babysitter as homework. Others are great for individual practice, small groups, or the whole class.

Count On Cards

The Basics

2-person card game

Materials Needed

Deck of cards with jacks, queens, kings, and jokers removed

Goal

To have the most cards at the end of play

How to Play

Separate the cards into two piles. Pile one has the aces, 2s, 3s and 4s. Pile 2 has the 5s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, and 10s.
Shuffle each pile and place them face down on the playing surface. Explain that aces act as 1 in this game.
Have the first student turn over the top card in each pile, and add the two numbers using the counting on strategy. If necessary, remind them to count on from the larger number, and count on the smaller number. For example, if they turned over a 4 and an 8, they would start with 8 and count on 4: 9, 10, 11, 12.
If the player has the correct answer, they get to keep both cards. If the answer is incorrect, the other player can try to find the correct number to keep both the cards.
Then the second player turns over a card from each pile and counts on to add them.
The game continues with players taking turns flipping and counting on until one of the piles run out of cards.
The winner is the player with the most cards at the end of the game.

Compatible Number Match Up

The Basics

Small group or whole class game

Materials Needed

Cards or stickers with numbers on them

Goal

To find a compatible number among your classmates.

How to Play

Create stickers (name tag size stickers work well) or note cards students can carry with numbers on them. Students will be searching for compatible numbers, so you can level this game by the numbers you use.
Give each student a number sticker or card and explain that it needs to be visible to other people.
Have students get up from their seats and have them begin looking for numbers that are compatible with their own number. For example, a student who had 46 could find a compatible number with a student who had 4 (total 50) or 54 (total 100) among others.
If students find a compatible number, both students can sit down.
Students still seeking compatible numbers can look at the numbers of seated students if they have trouble finding one among other students who are still looking
Continue playing until all students have found a compatible number.

You can adapt this mental math game by asking students to find trios of numbers (two numbers plus theirs) that make a tidy sum.

Near Doubles Triangles Race

The Basics

Pairs or small group
(Or done not as a race by individuals)

Materials Needed

Paper and pencil (or whiteboards and markers)

Goal

Be the first to find the correct answer when adding three consecutive numbers.

How to Play

You may want to do a sample triangle to show students how near doubles triangles work before you get them started. Draw a triangle on the board and write a number in one corner, say 7. Ask students what the next two numbers are. Write those numbers (8 and 9) in the other corners. Ask for suggestions of different ways to add these numbers. Write the total in the center. Highlight the near doubles strategy.

Students can complete near doubles triangles on their own. Just give them the number to start each triangle with. To use this mental math activity as a race in pairs or small groups, follow these steps.

Have students draw a triangle on their paper or whiteboard.
Tell them that as soon as you give them the first number, they should write it on their triangle, add the next two numbers and add them.
Give students a starting number.
Have them raise their hand when they have the answer.
Check the math. If they added correctly, they win the round. If not the next person to raise their hand can steal the round.

Partitioning Pairs

The Basics

Pairs

Materials Needed

100s grid

2 transparent counters

Goal

Add two numbers using the mental math skill of partitioning

How to Play

Give each pair a 100 grid.
Each student selects a number from the 100 grid and places a transparent counter on the number. (The counter helps students remember the two numbers selected in each round. If you don’t have counters, students can use a whiteboard or scrap paper to write down the numbers. Remind them that they are practicing mental math, so they shouldn’t use the whiteboard/paper to work on the solution.)
Students should use the partitioning strategy to add the two numbers.
Have them check their answer with their partner. Then see if they partitioned the numbers in the same way.
Together see if they can come up with other ways to partition to solve the problem.

Estimation & Calculation Station

The Basics

Pairs

Materials Needed

Calculator

2 10-sided dice

A playing board (see image—adapt numbers included to suit the level of your students)

Goal

Be the first player to get 5 points by estimating correctly

How to Play

The first player rolls the dice and identifies two numbers by looking at the playing board. For example, if they rolled a 4 and a 7, the two numbers using the sample board shown would be 752 and 267. )
That player estimates the sum of those two numbers.
The same player then selects the range that the estimate falls in.
The other player uses the calculator to work out the exact answer. If the exact answer falls within the range selected, the first player scores a point.
Player 2 now rolls the dice and does the same, and player 1 works the calculator.
Play continues until one student gets 5 points.
Remember the player that is estimating is practicing mental math, so they shouldn’t use paper and pencil to work out the estimates.

If you try out these mental math games in your classroom, I’d love to hear how it went—or how you adapted them to fit your students’ needs.

Looking for more mental math games and activities for grades 1–3? Check out Mental Math Activities and Posters. You get:

An explanation of each strategy with examples.
Posters to assist in explaining each strategy.
Activity ideas to help your students practice the strategy.
Games to provide further consolidation of the strategy.

Print posters, task cards, activity sheets for homework, game boards … and you’re good to go with mental math.

Get your activity and poster pack here >>https://topnotchteaching.com/downloads/mental-math-activities-posters/

FREE Math Games & Activities

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5 Math Games Every Classroom Needs to Play

Guest post by Leigh Langton

Hey guys! It’s Leigh from The Applicious Teacher! I am super excited to be blogging at Corkboard Connections today. I’m sharing a practice that I use to help increase my students’ engagement and number sense during my math block.

Do you play games in your classroom? Wait… what?! No time? Well… you should make time! Especially during your math time. To me, math and games go together like Nutella and pretzels. Delicious separate, but amazing together.

As a third grade teacher, I know how limited our time can be, so I am here to share with you 5 math games you should take the time to play this year! All of these games are fun, easy, and require little to no prep. They are math games that I’ve played for years with my second graders. When I moved up to third, I was able to easily modify these games for my new “big kids”.

First up… 100’s Game

This game can be played in a k-5 classroom. It is perfect for building number sense and it’s only prerequisite is that students can count. There’s no supplies needed to play and my kids loved playing this as a “brain-break” before math.

Here’s how to play…

Have your class stand in a circle. Moving in a clockwise direction, have the students count out loud until they get to a hundred. The person who says, “100” sits down. The last person standing, WINS!

The idea is simple, but can be modified for your students. In second grade we’d count by 5’s,10’s, and 25’s (to help with money later on in the year). For third, we count the multiples of numbers. For numbers that don’t have a multiple of 100, I choose the last number in the sequence of 12 as the “end number.”

Other Variations

Students sit down on a certain multiples (like the multiples of 7) Students don’t say the multiple. Students can count by ones to a hundred, but all the multiples of say, 4, are “off limits.” If a student says them, they sit down. You could also change it to student don’t say the divisors (perfect for those 4th/5th graders who need more practice with their facts!)

101 and Out…

This paper and pencil game works well in second to fifth grade classrooms and can be played by teams of students (like boys against girls) or in pairs. To play you will need a sheet of paper, a pencil, and one dice. The object of the game is to score as close to 101 without going over or “out.”

To play, students take turns rolling the dice. As they roll, they can either take the number as a one or a ten. For example, if a student rolls a 5, they could take it as a 5 or a 50. Students keep a running record of their total as they play.

I love how the kids start to form a strategy for what numbers they want to roll next. It’s a great way to build mental math strategies. To introduce this game, I usually play it as, “The Teacher vs. The Class”. This allows time for modeling while keeping the kids in on the action. What class doesn’t love beating the teacher? They always want to play again if I win the round.

This game works best in longer stretches, so multiple rounds can be played. I usually like to use it at the beginning of the year as a class game before math centers. It then becomes an easy and fun game for the kiddos to play during math centers.

Back 2 Back

Seriously, hands down, my class’ favorite game to play! This game is perfect for inside recess as the whole class can play at once and everyone is excited for the game.

This game requires some “brain sweat”, so it works well for grades 2-5. There are two different versions of this game. Supplies needed are minimal: a writing surface, writing utensils, and someone who is quick with their math facts for a “caller.”

The object of the game is to guess the other player’s number before they guess yours. To play, two students come up to the board and stand back to back (hence the name). This allows for the students to write on the board, but blocks their view of the other person’s number.

The “Caller” states, “Numbers Up”. This signals the two students write a number of their choice on the board. I usually play with numbers 2-9 to keep kiddos from dwelling in the 0’s and 1’s easy train, but you can play with numbers as high or as low as needed for your group of kids.

The caller then states the sum (for younger students) or product (3rd-5th) of the two numbers. The students use their understanding of math facts to figure out what they other person’s number is when added or multiplied by their number. The first player to say the other person’s number wins the round. The “loser” gets to choose the next person to come to the board.

Please be warned… this game can get a little rowdy as students win and lose rounds and somehow the teacher always gets pulled up to “clear out” a player who’s been up a little too long… But it’s a lot of fun and well worth the 10-20 minutes! Beats the repetitious practice drills of flashcards!

Guess My Number

This next game is very versatile and can be modified in so many ways! It can be played in kindergarten all the way through 5th grade classrooms. To play, you need a number chart and a dry erase marker. This game can be played whole group, in pairs or in small groups of 3-4.

To begin, one student chooses a number. The other players try to guess the number by asking a series of questions. The student crosses off numbers it can’t be and circles numbers it could. The person who guesses the right number, wins and gets to choose the next number.

The best part of this game is that it can be played with laminated personal hundreds charts in small groups.

It can also be played as a whole group game using a large chart.

For third grade, I encourage the use of question clues like “Is it a multiple of 5? Or greater than 70?” To introduce the game, I usually model crossing out numbers as students ask questions about the numbers and help link the clues to finding the right number.

For a kindergarten or first grade classroom, you may want to play with a number line with numbers 1-20. Then, students could ask if the number is bigger or smaller than numbers within that range. A 4th or 5th grade classroom can beef up the game with question clues like, “Is it divisible by 3?” or “Is it a multiple of 5?” The possibilities are endless! Time range to play can be from 5 minutes to 20 minutes and can be used as an inside recess game or a quick brain break before or after a lesson.

Math Fact Top It!

This last game works well in 1st through 5th grade classrooms and is best played in groups of 2-4 students. All that is needed to play are math fact flash cards. You can use addition, subtraction, multiplication or division cards. It just depends on where your students are in their math skills. I like to think of this game as “War for the classroom,” as the rules for the traditional card game apply to this math fact version.

To play, students divide the flash cards evenly among all players. Then, on the count of three, all students throw down a card. The card with the highest sum or product wins all the cards in play. This can be modified to lowest difference or quotient. If students have the same answer, then they play each other again, with the winner capturing all the cards in play. Students play until all the cards are won. The student depending on the flashcards you are using. with the most cards at the end wins. I find this game works best in math centers and is an easy way for students to practice their math facts in a new and unique way!

Download Freebie with Game Directions
So go forth and play! Get your students engaged and learning in the new year! If you’re not sure you’ll remember all these games I shared today, I’ve compiled all the directions in one file for you. It’s available here at my TpT store!

Leigh is a wife, mother, and a second-grade- turned-third-grade teacher. She currently resides in Central Florida where she has been teaching for 7 years. When Leigh isn’t teaching or writing for her teacher blog, The Applicious Teacher, she enjoys snuggling up with a good book, running a few miles, or spending time with her family.