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Submitted by: Anonymous

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You can do so much with cards blocks and dice and it's easy to transport. Here are a few of my favourite games... 1) Show three cards, children have to make highest number possible. An extension of this is drawing cards one at a time, chn have to place in the H, T or O column (record on paper) to make the highest number. Integrates chance with number. 2) Play snap - chn recognise similar numbers. With older children, play snap +/- one number, e.g. if a 6 is played and then a 7 or 5 it is a snap. You could also make it snap when it is a bond of 10, e.g. 4+6... the list goes on. 3) Throw dice and add, x, - as quickly as possible. An extension is to record the sums made, or to do this with a number chart and keep adding, e.g. 5+5 10, throw the dice again, say you get 3+4, running total is 17... when we play this we colour in a hundreds chart as we go. 4) Use popsticks/blocks, give children a certain number of blocks (e.g. 10) one partner closes their eyes whilst the other child hides some blocks behind their back. The child then must look at the blocks left to guess how many are behind their back. Practices subtraction and commutative law. 5)Tell children to build something with any 30 items around the classroom. Once they are finished, they must draw, then measure their construction. 6) Play 'go fish' on the calculator - children enter a number on their calculator secretly. Their partner uses a category to guess the number, e.g. does it have a 7 in the ones column if the numbers is 37 How many ways can you make... 10, 20, 1000 etc... really easy to differentiate and if you make it a competition the kids are very motivated. I set it out like a brainstorm on a piece of paper. Give out blocks/popsticks and a dice to children (divide them in groups of 2). One child rolls the dice while the other child pulls that amount of popsticks away... keep continuing for a set time, e.g. 1 min. Then stop the pairs, where they must count the collection (reinforce counting in 2's, or counting in sets of 10 etc). Write the number of popsticks pulled aside on a piece of paper. Line the whole class up in a human numberline across the room. Reverse rolls and repeat, compare results - usually the children get a lot more the second time. Celebrity head number (student thinks of a number and gives criteria, e.g. I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 50) and children guess one at a time, answer can only be yes or no. E.g. is it an odd number, is it in the 20's etc. Really helps with place value. There are so many fantastic maths games out there which the kids love. Most of these I have made up on the spot, however there are some fantastic resources published by Paul Swan (Australian) who is an amazing mathematician and has very affordable maths games. I know he definitely produced a book called 'Card Capers' which is fantastic, I saw it at a PD recently. All the best!

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Submitted by: Maggie

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There is another fantastic web site that has great ideas for maths games for consolidating concepts. Try teacherresourcesgalore.com. This is an Australian site and has a great selection of Literacy and Numeracy activities. Also look for resources written by the guru Paul Swan. A West Australian teacher who is awesome.

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Submitted by: Kellie

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Was doing some PD during the week, and one lady had her decks of cards stored in soap holders - the plastic type that you use for holidays and camping. Each box had an identifying sticker on them, so there was some ownership and accountability on the students' part

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Submitted by: Anne

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You should be able to pick up free packs of cards from any casino. The casino in Cairns is quite happy to give boxes of used packs of cards to schools or teachers. The cards have a hole through them but are great for lots of maths activities.

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Submitted by: Kellie

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If you are at a school and can get into their library one lunch time, look for any "Box Cars" resources. There are many different booklets which contain heaps of games. You may need to invest in some packs of cards and dice to travel around with you, but you can really consolidate many skills in a very fun way with these. Good Luck. I love relieving - it taught me quickly, without the day to day pressures of being at the school full time. Also use the time to develop folders and "sea gull" as much as you can. I recently handed on a few sheets to a colleague that I collected over 15 years ago. Good ideas are timeless.

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Submitted by: Vee

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Hi Dane, Welcome to teaching... I have taught grade 6 for the past 4 years and year 4 for the previous 2.(currently in year 1 for the first time!) I found a brilliant website full of interactive games (useful if you have an interactive whiteboard) http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Interactive.aspx For other ideas on fun maths activities I always refer to the trusty NSW maths syllabus work samples for ideas for each stage. http://k6.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/files/maths/maths_k6_ws.pdf I think it depends on the type of students you have. You always need modified activities to suit each group of ability. Open ended questions are fantastic as it gets kids thinking more about maths and caters for each ability as a whole group. Questions like: Pretend the number '2' key is broken on the calculator. How many ways can you make the answer equal 12 without using the '2' key? eg 4 x 3, 6 + 6, 13 - 1, (the answers are endless) Hope these ideas help you out. Just remember to make maths fun so that there are no taboo's about maths as they grow as a learner...

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Submitted by: Indypoppy

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My class last year loved a game called circle champion...basically you can have a circle with one student to be the starting champion. They stand behind one of the people in the circle. The teacher throws two (could be three) dice and it is a competition between the two to add the two numbers as quickly as possible, the student who gets this then continues to be the circle champion or a new champion continues around the circle. Possibly this could be a multiplication game as well.

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