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Maths games for the classroom
A good classroom maths game gets every pupil doing lots of maths, quickly, without a worksheet in sight. The 15 games below need little or no preparation: a board, mini whiteboards, dice, a pack of playing cards or digit cards. For each one you'll find the rules, what it practises and how to make it harder or more accessible.
Whole-class games
1. Beequation on the board
How to play: project a honeycomb of numbers. Exactly one number is made from two of the others, by adding them (or, in times-table puzzles, by multiplying them). Pupils find it, write the number sentence on their whiteboard and show it on a count of three.
Practises: number facts, and reasoning, because pupils test pairs and rule them out. Adapt it: use sums to 20 in KS1, times tables from Year 2, and tenths or hundredths in upper KS2. Ask "how did you rule out 12?" as often as "what's the answer?". The free puzzle pack has 24 ready-made honeycombs with answers, and the browser game runs on a classroom board with no sign-up.
2. Fizz Buzz
How to play: count around the class from 1. Multiples of 3 are replaced by "Fizz", multiples of 5 by "Buzz", and multiples of both by "Fizz Buzz" (15, 30, 45…). Practises: multiples and times tables. Adapt it: in KS1, use one rule only (clap on multiples of 5). In upper KS2, use 6 and 8: the first number that is both is 24, which leads nicely into common multiples.
3. Bingo
How to play: pupils write any 5 numbers from a range you give (say 1 to 20) on their whiteboards. You read out questions; if the answer is on their board, they cross it off. First to cross off all 5 wins. Practises: whatever facts you choose: bonds, doubles, times tables, fractions of amounts. Adapt it: show the questions as well as reading them, for pupils who need more time.
4. Stand up, sit down
How to play: read a statement. Pupils stand if it's true and stay sitting if it's false, then someone explains. Practises: facts and reasoning. Adapt it: "Stand up if the answer is even: 7 × 4" in lower KS2, or "Stand up if it's bigger than a half: ⅝" in upper KS2.
5. Splat!
How to play: write 10 to 15 numbers spread out on the board. Two pupils stand ready with a hand (or a fly swatter). Call out a question; the first to splat the answer wins the round, and two new pupils come up. Everyone else writes the answer on a whiteboard so nobody is left watching. Practises: quick recall. Adapt it: numbers to 10 in Reception, times-table answers in Year 4, or equivalent fractions and decimals in Year 6.
6. Human number line
How to play: hand out number cards to 8 to 10 pupils, who arrange themselves in order across the front of the room. The class checks and suggests moves. Practises: place value and comparing numbers. Adapt it: numbers to 20 in Year 1, three-digit numbers in Year 3, or a mix of fractions, decimals and percentages in Year 6.
Games for pairs
7. Say 21
How to play: players take turns to count on from 1, saying one, two or three numbers each turn. Whoever says 21 wins. Practises: counting and, once pupils look for a strategy, serious reasoning. The winning numbers to say are 17, 13, 9, 5 and 1, each 4 apart, so the first player can always win by saying "1". Adapt it: change the target to 20 or 30 and see whether pupils can work out the new winning numbers.
8. Four in a row
How to play: draw a 5 × 5 grid of answers from the times tables you're practising. Players take turns to roll two dice (or pick two digit cards), multiply, and cover the answer with a counter. The first with four in a row wins. Practises: multiplication facts. Adapt it: add the two dice instead for KS1, or use a 1 to 10 spinner for harder tables.
9. Biggest number
How to play: each player draws a place-value grid with three boxes (hundreds, tens, ones). Turn over digit cards one at a time; each player must write the digit in a box before the next card. Biggest number wins. Practises: place value and comparing. Adapt it: play for the smallest number, closest to 500, or add a decimal point for upper KS2.
10. Matching pairs
How to play: lay cards face down. Players turn over two at a time and keep them if they match: two numbers that make 10, a fact and its answer, or two equivalent fractions. Practises: bonds, facts and equivalence. Adapt it: fewer cards for younger pupils; bonds to 100 or fraction-decimal pairs for older ones.
11. Coordinate battleships
How to play: each player hides ships on a grid and guesses the coordinates of their partner's ships, such as (3, 5). Practises: reading and plotting coordinates. Adapt it: the first quadrant only in Year 4 (where coordinates are introduced), all four quadrants with negative numbers in Year 6.
Small-group games
12. Salute!
How to play: in threes, with playing cards (picture cards removed). Two players each take a card without looking and hold it to their forehead. The third player says the product. Each player works out their own card from the one they can see: if the product is 24 and you can see a 6, yours is a 4. Practises: multiplication and division as inverses. Adapt it: say the sum instead of the product for KS1.
13. Class shop
How to play: label classroom objects with prices and give each group real or play coins. One pupil is the shopkeeper, the others buy and check their change. Practises: money, adding and giving change. Adapt it: prices under 20p in Years 1 and 2, change from £1 in Year 3, or a percentage-off sale in Year 6.
14. Target number
How to play: roll four dice and set a target. Groups use all four numbers once each, with any operations, to hit or get close to it. Practises: mental calculation and, in Year 6, the order of operations. Adapt it: with 2, 3, 5 and 6 and a target of 24, one answer is 6 × 5 − 3 × 2 (30 − 6 = 24). Lower the target or allow fewer dice for younger pupils.
15. Hive makers
How to play: each group builds a honeycomb of five numbers where exactly one is the sum (or product) of two others, then swaps with another group to solve. Practises: number facts and checking systematically, because the makers must make sure no other pair works. Adapt it: more numbers in the honeycomb makes it much harder to keep only one answer.
Teach a new game to the whole class first, with you playing against the class on the board. Once everyone knows the rules, the same game can run in pairs or groups for weeks with different numbers, and you're free to work with the pupils who need you.
Quick answers
Yes, if the game makes pupils do lots of maths and talk about it. Check that every player is calculating every turn, not waiting while one person does the thinking.
Play in teams, play against the teacher, or score for good explanations as well as right answers. Games where everyone writes on a whiteboard also keep the whole class involved.
Four in a row, Salute!, Fizz Buzz and times-table honeycombs all give quick, repeated practice. They're useful in the run-up to the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check in June.