Whether you’re in a homeschool setting or a traditional classroom setting, you’re probably always on the lookout for great math games and activities. There are many homeschool math games that can be used effectively in either a homeschool or traditional classroom setting.
I have more than seven game ideas for you, for your upper elementary and middle school math students. (I’ve added a few since first writing this post!)
Our 5th Grade Homeschool Year
I always wanted to homeschool my children, but that wasn’t in the cards for me. However, when my youngest daughter was in 5th grade, I DID have the opportunity to take a general leave and homeschool her for half the year. It wasn’t enough time, but I’ll always be grateful for it!
As I was at that time, I’m always on the lookout for math games that can be used for homeschoolers or for parents who don’t homeschool but want to help enrich their students’ learning!
Playing games is a fun, educational way to help students grasp a wide variety of math concepts. The great part is that they can play with each other (if you’re homeschooling more than one child) or with you.
There are so many engaging math games and activities to choose from, but here are our current suggestions:
Board Games for Homeschool Math
Sumoku
Sumoku is a crosswords style game, but with numbers. It features five different play modes. It’s designed to grow with your child and is made for ages 8 to adult.
Equate: The Equation Thinking Game
Think of Equate: The Equation Thinking Game as Scrabble for math. I love Scrabble, but I enjoy the challenging math version too, since math is my favorite!
This math game is designed to help students better understand equations by creating their own on the board and building upon others.
Prime Club
A great math game for teaching prime numbers and critical thinking is Prime Club.
Players must work their way to 101 by using division, multiplication, addition and subtraction. It’s made for ages 10 and up, though it can be played with younger homeschoolers.
Kitki Three Sticks
Kitki Three Sticks makes geometry about far more than just memorizing shapes. I’ve found kids remember more when they’re able to engage with the subject matter in a fun way.
This game challenges them to interact with geometrical shapes in new ways, helping them experience shapes in a memorable way.
- This math game is actually listed as a STEM toy.
Online Math Games and Activities
In addition to board games, it can be helpful to have some quality digital activities, for when students don’t have someone to play math games with.
These types of activities can be a great supplement to your homeschool math instruction.
Online math activities are especially helpful if the activities offer immediate feedback as to whether the students answered correctly or not (and why).
A few years ago, I created an online games and activities site for upper elementary and middle school math students.
- The site currently has about 50 games and activities (9 of them are free).
- It’s super-easy to use, and the teachers and students who are using it love the activities.
Math War With Playing Cards
Cards are an excellent way to practice a variety of math concepts. War is a great homeschool math game.
Exponent War is one of my favorites, but war can also be used for all types of concepts, from comparing whole numbers (traditional war) to addition war, subtraction war, multiplication war fraction war, and integer operations war. There are so many possibilities!
All you need is a standard deck of playing cards or fraction cards.
Homeschool Math Games With Dice
Just like cards, dice can be used in a wide variety of ways to practice math concepts.
Yahtzee is an excellent game to help students practice addition and multiplication facts.
Decimal Dice is a game that is played similarly to Yahtzee, but focuses on fraction to decimal conversions.
The array game is another engaging activity that again helps students with multiplication facts and develops area concepts.
Brain Teasers
MindTrap
I like a good brain teaser and the MindTrap series of geometrical brain teaser games is perfect for helping your homeschooler master geometry.
Any type of brain teaser is excellent for helping your homeschool math student develop their logic skills.
What are your favorite homeschool math games and activities?
