1St grade math ideas

First Grade Math Games That Will Really Engage Your Students

Early elementary teachers have a chance to instill in their students a love of math right from the start. One great way to do that is to make math fun! These first grade math games cover all the standard skills firsties need to know, in ways that make learning engaging and enjoyable for all.

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1. Assemble a domino puzzle

Print the free puzzles at the link below. Then grab some dominoes and start filling in the puzzle one piece at a time by placing a domino that adds up to the number shown in each rectangle. The trick is that regular domino rules still apply, so each number must touch another domino with the same number on that end.

Learn more: Games 4 Gains

2. Play tic-tac-toe with addition problems

Work out the answer to each problem in the grid, and dot or circle the ones that add up to 10. First to get three in a row wins!

Learn more: 123Homeschool4Me—Tic-Tac-Toe Math Game

3. Face off in Dice War

Dice games are fantastic in the classroom! With this one, kids practice their addition facts and get a little work with subitizing too. The concept is so simple: Each player rolls the dice and adds up their numbers. The highest sum wins that round. This is one of those first grade math games that can be expanded by adding a third die. (You can also use playing cards.)

Learn more: Miss Giraffe’s Class

4. Use sticky notes to make 10

Sticky notes have so many uses in the classroom. In this case, challenge students to put together the numbered notes that “make 10.” They’ll practice adding to 10 with multiple numbers. You can also do this with subtraction, starting at 10, to make zero.

Learn more: Life Over C’s

5. Play Shut the Box

This game has been played for hundreds of years, but it’s a fun and sneaky way to practice addition facts fluency. The goal is to “close” each of the numbers in the box from one to nine by rolling the dice. For instance, if a player rolls 11, they may close 1, 2, 3, and 5, as these add up to 11. If no numbers are available to add up to the dice total, play passes to the next player and continues until someone finally “shuts the box” by closing the last available number. You can play this game with a specially designed box, as it has been played for years. You don’t need the box, though; simply have kids write out the numbers 1 through 9 and cross them out as they play.

6. Assemble some addition grab bags

Fill a variety of bags with collections of small objects. Kids grab a handful from two different bags, then count and add up the results. Be sure they write it all down to get practice at setting up equations. First grade math games like this one work for subtraction too.

Learn more: Susan Jones Teaching—Grab Bags

7. Face Off to find the difference

Each player rolls the dice (try polyhedral dice for higher numbers, or roll several dice and add them together) and builds a stack of math cubes. Then they “face off” and find the difference between their two stacks.

Learn more: Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls

8. Plant flowers and count on

Pick up some artificial flowers at the dollar store for this springtime garden game. Roll the die and add that number of flowers to your pot. Then roll again and add more, counting on from where you left off. Easy and fun!

Learn more: Fun-a-Day

9. Build and count on

Here’s a fun hands-on way to practice counting on and addition. You can use any type of building blocks for this one. Get free printables at the link.

Learn more: Susan Jones Teaching—Building On

10. Print a hundreds chart to play Battleship

Help students master numbers up to 100 by playing Battleship, using a standard hundreds chart. They’ll enjoy the strategy (and the fun of crying “boom!” when they sink a ship) while they develop number sense and practice number words.

Learn more: 123Homeschool4Me—Hundreds Chart Battleship

11.

Fill in a number grid puzzle

These hundreds chart puzzles encourage kids to use a variety of first grade math skills to fill in the missing numbers. They’ll practice counting on, numbers to 100, skip counting, and more. Grab these 10 free printable puzzles at the link.

Learn more: Helping With Math

12. Try nuts and bolts for place-value practice

Mastering the concepts of tens and ones is more fun with hands-on activities. We love these DIY math manipulatives that use inexpensive nuts and bolts from the hardware store to drive home the idea of place value. (Bonus: Kids also practice fine motor skills!) Get free printable mats to use with this activity at the link.

Learn more: The Measured Mom

13. Have a place-value scavenger hunt

Grab a stack of old magazines and use it for a place-value scavenger hunt! You can do this one at school or send it home for homework. Get free printables to use for this first grade math game at the link.

Learn more: Primary Theme Park—Place Value Scavenger Hunt

14. Practice tens and ones with I Have, Who Has

As first graders work with the concepts of tens and ones, play this simple game to give them confidence. Using the free printable cards at the link, the first player calls out “I have …” followed by the number shown on their card in blocks. Then they call out the number on the bottom, and the player who has that number takes over.

Learn more: Playdough to Plato—I Have, Who Has

15. Deal Uno cards to compare numbers

Some first grade math games are just slightly harder versions of kindergarten ones. Make a greater than/less than mat with paper scraps and a brad, as shown. Lay out two Uno cards on each side, since first graders work on comparing two-digit numbers. Swing the arms of the signs around to the correct direction to indicate which is greater.

Learn more: The Kindergarten Smorgasboard

16. Knock down the pins with dot arrangement bowling

Take an inexpensive toy bowling set (or make your own with plastic bottles) and add sticky dots arranged in patterns. Students roll the ball and then have to quickly subitize to determine how many dots are on each pin they knocked down. If they get it right, they get the points!

Learn more: The First Grade Parade

17. Navigate a time-telling maze

Start with the first clock and color in the line that shows the correct time. That leads you to the next clock, and so on, until you’re done!

Learn more: 123Homeschool4Me—Time-Telling Maze

18. Assemble time-telling puzzles

Firsties should be mastering time to the hour and half hour. These free printable puzzles help them match up analog and digital clock times. Have them say the times out loud as they match them up too.

Learn more: 123Homeschool4Me—Time-Telling Puzzles

19. Match up plastic eggs

This is always a popular way to practice telling time. Draw clocks on one half of the eggs, and write out the times in numbers or words on the other half. For even more fun, hide the halves around the room and go on an egg hunt before you match them up!

Learn more: The STEM Laboratory

20.

Put together shapes to make other shapes

Use pattern blocks with the free printable cards at the link to get kids playing around with simple geometry. They’ll practice recognizing basic shapes and learn they can use some shapes to make new ones.

Learn more: Susan Jones Teaching—Pattern Blocks

21. Partition and sort shapes

Gather up sticky notes in a variety of shapes and sizes. Draw lines on them to partition them equally or unequally. Then, have kids sort them based on type.

Learn more: Smitten With First

22. Build and measure with LEGO bricks

Everything is more fun with LEGO! Pull out a pile of square bricks and use them for these fun and free activities that incorporate estimating, measuring, and comparing length.

Learn more: Playdough to Plato—LEGO Math

23. Race and measure with toy cars

First, kids get a little STEM practice by figuring out how to build a ramp. Then, they race toy cars down the ramp, marking where they land. Finally, they compare distances using any kind of non-standard measurement they like.

Learn more: Susan Jones Teaching—Non-Standard Measurement

24. Sort out your classroom toys

First graders work on sorting by attribute in as many as three categories. Put out a variety of building blocks, beads, or other classroom toys and lay out some Hula-Hoops. Ask kids to define the categories and start sorting! You can even overlap the hoops into Venn diagrams for items that meet more than one criteria.

Learn more: BSM Year 2

25. Go on a bug hunt

Grab the free printable game at the link, then have kids graph their insects as they play. When they’re done, ask questions to ensure they understand the data they’ve collected.

Learn more: Primary Theme Park—Bug Hunt

Like these first grade math games? Don’t miss these 50 First Grade Math Word Problems of the Day!

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7 Common Core Math Activities for 1st Graders

For many teachers and administrators, the start of the 2013-14 school year also means the full implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Because the CCSS are guidelines and not a national curriculum, many first grade teachers looking to meet new Grade 1 math standards for their kiddoes have been busily preparing new lesson plans over the summer. Here are seven unique ideas for fun first grade CCSS-aligned math activities to get you started:

1. Dominoes

The CCSS require first graders to know how to represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction. To make the process a little more fun, use dominoes to practice addition. Place a stack of numeral cards in front of the students and flip one over. Ask them to find dominoes that have that total number of dots, then have them record their thought processes on a sheet of paper as an addition equation.

2. Build trains with snap cubes

Snap cubes are one manipulative that presents endless possibilities for teaching first grade math. Under the CCSS, first graders need to understand that 5 + 3 = 3 + 5. Have students use snap cubes to create a train made of two colors (they can choose their favorite hues). Have them build a train using less than 10 cubes and write a number sentence describing what they’ve created. Then, have students flip the train and write the new sequence. This will help them understand that no matter the order of the numbers, the total is the same.

3. Bracelets

Bringing arts and crafts into math lessons always makes them more fun. To teach first graders about place value (for example, how a bundle of 10 can be thought of as 10 ones), create bracelets using pipe cleaner and beads. Have students each count out 10 beads of their favorite color and string them onto the pipe cleaner. After they’ve made the bracelets, show them how to push the beads to either side to demonstrate different pairs of numbers that can add up to 10.

4. Apple orchard field trip

It’s always fun to take math learning outside of the classroom, so why not take first graders on a field trip to the apple orchard? Have them count the apples as they each fill their own barrel. You can then use the different colored apples to demonstrate a word problem. For example, showing all of the different combinations of red and yellow apples that can be used to create a box of 10.

5. 100 day celebration

Reaching the 100th day of school is always exciting for students, so why not harness all of that energy into a math lesson? It’s great practice to support Common Core State Standards, which require first graders to be able to count to 120. Have each student bring in a group of 100 items to celebrate and have a gallery walk around the classroom.

6. Plus one/minus one game

Why not create math activities using dice? To help first graders practice their addition and subtraction skills, create a mat resembling a bingo board that contains the numbers two through seven. Split students into pairs and give them each 10 counters (these can be anything from shapes made of construction paper to checkerboard pieces). Each player then takes a turn rolling the die and adding one (or subtracting one, depending on the game) and placing his or her counter on the corresponding number. The game ends when the students have used up all of their counters.

7. Fun DreamBox lessons

Kids today are tech savvy – most don’t remember a world without computers. To keep them engaged, use DreamBox Learning’s Intelligent Adaptive Learning technology to explore new concepts and build comprehension. The game-like learning environment, with lessons aligned to the Common Core, make learning fun with themes, characters, and a reward system.

Want more tips for successfully planning for CCSS math? Check out this free white paper from DreamBox.

entertaining tasks and examples in pictures with answers and solutions

Entertaining mathematics

1st grade

Why do kids love LogicLike tasks more than tasks from math textbooks? The professor and his team will teach each child to click both typical and non-standard math problems.

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The following story often happens: when preparing for the 1st grade the child liked to solve entertaining tasks, puzzles, examples and tasks. Passes the first a quarter and a capable child begins to get bored of the monotonous or too simple for him assignments.

If you were looking for a mental counting simulator or want to check how much your child has learned school curriculum, you will love the collection of math tests for grade 1 from LogicLike.

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Entertaining mathematics for first graders online

Mathematics classes on LogicLike begin with entertaining logical problems, unusual examples, puzzles and other tasks in pictures that you want to solve. In the course we alternate mathematical and logical problems, patterns, figures in space and other types assignments.

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Simple addition and subtraction
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Examples for addition and subtraction for class 1
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Addition and Subtraction Problems

Simple task to find sums

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Three girls took 1 balloon in each hand.
How many balls do they have?

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Answer:

Mindfulness task

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There are two sweets, one cake and three pears on the plate.

How many fruits are on the plate?

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Subtraction problem

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There were 7 liters of water in a 12-liter barrel, and 8 liters in a bucket.
Water from a bucket filled the barrel to the top.

How many liters of water are left in the bucket?

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Tasks to increase and decrease the number by several units

What will be the result?

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5 apples.

Age problem

Yura was born 2 years earlier than Vanya.
Yuri is now 5 years old.

How old is Vanya?

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Finding the Unknown term and difference

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An evil virus hid the numbers in the examples.
Put the correct numbers back in their places.

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Answer:

2 + 3=5
3 − 2 = 1

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For those who do not currently have the opportunity to study online, we have prepared small selections assignments for paperwork. You can download and print tasks for practicing oral skills invoices in pdf format.

To "warm up" the child's interest in mathematics, we recommend starting with 1 sheet a day.

Entertaining tasks for grade 1 for addition and subtraction within 10.
Entertaining tasks for first graders: addition and subtraction up to 10.

What is the best online course?

We recommend that future and present first graders practice 15-20 minutes a day.

Compound tasks for first graders

Tasks in two or three actions develop memory, logic and mathematical speech.

Composite difference problem comparison

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Condition: The purple monster ate 4 whole oranges, and the red monster ate 7 halves of the same oranges.

Question: Who ate more oranges?

Show solution

Answer:

Violet.

Solution
1 whole orange = 2 halves.
4 whole oranges = 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 8 halves.
8 > 7 means Purple ate more than Red.

Multi-action task on balancing

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Condition: A rabbit is 2 kg lighter than a puppy.

Questions: What the scale will be higher if the puppy is placed on the left side of the scale, and the rabbit on right? How after that you need to place the weights on the scales so that they come to equilibrium?

Find out the answer and solution

Solution
1. A rabbit is lighter than a puppy, so the right one is lighter. the bowl with the rabbit will rise up.

2. In order for the balance to balance, the weight on the bowl rabbit should be 2 kg heavier than the kettlebell that we will add to the puppy.

It turns out that you need to put on a bowl with a puppy weight in 1 kg, and on a bowl with a rabbit - in 3 kg.

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Text Boolean

Fedya has equal number of sisters and brothers.

Who is more in the family: sons or daughters?

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Answer:

more sons (Fedya is also a son).

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Kolya and Nadia have the same items.
Anya has a jump rope.

Distribute items to all children.

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Answer:

Kolya and Nadi - balls. Ira and Anya have jump ropes.

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Math tasks for logic

Task with figures on verbal-logical thinking

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Condition: The professor thought of a figure and gave two clues:
- it is not square and not blue;
- it is round or triangular.

Question: What did the Professor guess?

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Answer:

orange triangle.

Take hint

Prompt

Solving similar mathematical puzzles promotes the development of verbal-logical thinking , trains possession skills basic methods of thinking: highlighting essential and insignificant features of objects, generalization, comparison, derivation of the investigation and others.

Continue the pattern

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Find a pattern and continue the series with numbers.

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Answer:

20.

Comment:
The difference between each successive number and the previous one increases by 1 (+1, +2, +3…).

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Why do we need mathematics? Why study, the benefits of doing mathematics

Scientists from Stanford University in the USA studied the process of solving mathematical problems by a person and found out that adults use thinking and the skill, brought to automatism, to “get” the answers already there from memory.

Children under 7 often resort to the help of fingers and toes, as well as various substitutes (real objects, counting sticks). In the "transitional period", at the age of 7 to 9, schoolchildren form the "adult" skill of "thinking", comprehending and remembering information.

An interesting study was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience in 2014. First of all, it was devoted to the study of the role of the hippocampus (an area in the brain) in the development of cognitive activity in children. But his indirect conclusions are as follows:

if you want your child to have no problems with math at school, train your memory at an early age;
solving mathematical problems develops memory.

3. Math builds character

For the correct solution of mathematical and logical problems, attentiveness, perseverance, responsibility, accuracy and accuracy are needed.

The more regularly a child trains these "muscles of character", the stronger they become, the more often they help the child in solving not only educational problems, but also life problems.

LogicLike is the right training platform for 20-60 minutes a day. Solve problems, participate in olympiads in logic and mathematics, develop the will to win and the ability to win!

We create both simple and Olympiad problems that you want to solve:

tasks for grade 1;
assignments for grade 2;
assignments for grade 3.

4. Music for mathematics, mathematics for music

A comprehensive study by Barbara H. Helmrich of the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore found that children who played musical instruments in middle school did significantly better in math in high school.

Scientists have found that the same part of the brain is responsible for solving algebraic problems and processing musical information.

"The largest average difference in algebra scores between any two groups of subjects was found between African-American 'instrumental' groups and groups of 'non-musical' students. "

Paradoxically, scientists didn't seem to be interested in feedback.
After all, if the same part of the brain is responsible for the development of mathematical and musical abilities, it is possible that doing mathematics improves musical abilities.

I remember Sherlock Holmes, who was both an excellent detective and a talented violinist. Many will say that the famous English detective is just a fiction, but he had his own real prototype, a mentor and friend of Arthur Conan Doyle. The greatest physicist Albert Einstein was also a passionate violinist.

5. Math Helps You Succeed in the Humanities

It is early mathematical abilities that are a sure prerequisite for the fact that in the future the child will not only understand mathematics well, but also succeed in other school disciplines. Next in importance for contributing to academic success are reading skills and the ability to manage one's attention.

Such conclusions were reached by scientists in the field of education and social policy at Northwestern University in Evanston. During the study, they assessed the relationship of key elements of school readiness (basic skills for school admission - "academic" readiness, attention, social-emotional skills) with further academic success.

Mathematics is an interdisciplinary science, it is closely related to physics, geography, geology, and chemistry. Sociology and economics are inseparable from mathematics, and many of the conclusions of even the usual humanities, such as linguistics, journalism, are based on mathematical models and concepts, mathematical and logical laws.

6. Develops skills for solving everyday problems

Barbara Oakley, PhD, brain stem cell researcher and author of Think Like a Mathematician, emphasizes:

“Mathematics saves us from “magical thinking” - we strive to delve into the essence of things and do not rely on chance and higher powers.”

The more difficult the math problems become, the more skills are required to solve them. The child learns to reason, build sequences, think through algorithms, juggle several concepts at once, and these skills become a habit.

Thanks to mathematics, we get rid of bad habits:

we do not think, but we operate only in exact terms;
we do not just memorize information and rules mechanically, but evaluate it, analyze it, reflect in order to understand and learn new material, a new life lesson.

7. Mathematics is the basis of a successful career

If 10-15 years ago the study of foreign languages was considered promising, now you will not surprise anyone with fluency in several languages. Now professional demand largely depends on the understanding of technology, the ability to think, abstract and the ability to solve non-standard problems. It is extremely difficult for those who want to work in the IT field to do without knowledge of mathematics.

Abstract, critical and strategic thinking, analytical skills, the ability to build algorithms are a “must-have” for a good developer.

TOP 5 soft skills. Source: amazonaws.com

Successful mathematics classes give self-confidence, because success in it requires perseverance in striving to solve the most complex, sometimes, at first glance, “unsolvable” tasks and problems.

Test your strength: Math puzzles to help you: 9 selected well-known tasks for ingenuity. How many can you decide?

8. Problem Solving Builds Mental Resilience

Solving mathematical problems helps to improve the emotional background - this activity can relieve anxiety, helps control emotions and prevents stress.

These conclusions were reached by scientists from Duke University in the United States, who were able to prove this in a study published in the journal Clinical Psychology in 2016.

9. Pleasure from "x"

For a serious student of mathematics, mathematical formulas, equations and other logical and mathematical problems embody beauty, harmony and provide the same aesthetic pleasure as music, art and a good joke, says a group of researchers from several universities in the UK.

With the help of functional magnetic resonance imaging, the activity of the brain activity of the subjects was recorded during the demonstration of mathematical equations, formulas and tasks. The results of the study were published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience in 2014.

How to learn to experience the joy and pleasure of doing mathematics tells the famous American mathematician, a graduate of Harvard University, Stephen Strogatz. Applied Mathematics teacher, award-winning math and teacher in the pages of his book "The Pleasure of X" enthusiastically explains the most significant mathematical ideas in a simple and understandable way.

Try logic and math classes at LogicLike.com!

We are convinced that children, especially those aged 5-9, do not need to be told how important it is to study mathematics. It is much more important to give the child the opportunity to plunge into the world of entertaining interactive mathematics.

Learning on the LogicLike platform, children solve interesting logical problems, earn their first "star" awards for correct answers, play modern logic games - and get not only benefit, but also real pleasure from such mathematics.