Math creative activities

35 Active Math Games and Activities for Kids Who Love To Move

Tired of hearing groans when you announce it’s time for math? These active math games and activities will spice up your learning game. They get kids up and moving, using their whole bodies to learn facts and skills. Lots of these ideas can be adapted to suit a variety of math concepts, so choose a few to try out with your own math students.

1. Throw snowballs inside or out

Clip flash cards to plastic tubs, then challenge kids to throw the correct number of large white pom-poms (“snowballs”) in from a distance. If there’s snow on the ground, bundle up and take this one outside to use real snowballs!

Learn more: Frugal Fun 4 Boys and Girls

2. Stack sticks to practice tally marks

Small sticks are perfect for practicing tally marks. Kids will have fun checking the ground under trees for twigs, then breaking them into pieces and creating tally piles.

Learn more: @amysam623

3.

It’s so easy to make your own magnet fishing pole. Float some numbered foam fish with paper clips attached, then try to catch the numbers in the right order! (Don’t want to get wet? Just lay the fish on the ground instead.)

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Learn more: Buggy and Buddy/Fishing Math

4. Draw and measure shapes on the sidewalk

First, give kids some sidewalk chalk and let them draw a variety of shapes, as big or small as they like. Then, arm them with measuring tapes and have them practice taking measurements.

Learn more: @playexploregrow

5. Stomp and smash on a number line

Grab some paper bags and number them, then shake them out and lay them in a number line. Now, call out an addition or subtraction problem, like 3 + 2. Have a student stomp on the bag labeled three, then on the next two to arrive at an answer of five. (Feeling brave? Try this one with balloons!)

Learn more: Schooltime Snippets

6.

Pick up colorful fall leaves and write math facts on them. Gather them around a numbered rock to make pretty flowers.

Learn more: @discoverwildlearning

7. Toss beanbags to learn place value

Label bins with place values like ones, tens, and hundreds. Kids toss beanbags into the bins, then count them and see what number they’ve created.

Learn more: Saddle Up for Second Grade/Place Value Toss

8. Form paper-plate number bonds

Pass out numbered paper plates, then have students mix and mingle to see how many number bonds they can form.

Learn more: The Schroeder Page

9. Create a life-size number line

Number lines are wonderful for all sorts of math games and activities. Make one big enough for kids to stand and jump around on using sidewalk chalk (or painter’s tape indoors). You’ll use it over and over again.

Learn more: Childhood Beckons

10. Hit the target and graph

You can teach graphing in lots of ways, so why not make it active? Students throw balls onto a target, graphing and analyzing their throws as they go.

Learn more: Amy Lemons

11. Head out on a plot graph scavenger hunt

Create a map of your school, playground, or other area using graph paper (or even better, have kids help you do it). Then choose plot points for them to visit to find notes or small prizes. They’ll feel like real treasure hunters!

Learn more: Edventures With Kids

12. Roll the dice to count and move

Get practice with low-number counting and addition using action dice. Write activities like “jump,” “clap,” or “stomp” on a small wooden block, then roll it along with a pair of dice. Kids add them up (or subtract if you prefer) and complete the activity the number of times shown.

Learn more: Buggy and Buddy/Math Dice

13. Whack a ball to subtract

You know your elementary math students are going to love this! Build your own whack-a-mole 10-frame with a shoebox and Ping-Pong balls. Then, have kids whack the balls to practice their subtraction facts. So fun!

Learn more: Planning Playtime

14. Make a splash with water balloons

You’re going to need to be willing to get a little wet for this one, but kids simply adore math games (or any games!) with water balloons. Fill and label balloons numbered 1 through 20 (or whatever numbers you’re working on). Draw the numbers in a big circle on the playground. Then, have a student choose a balloon, find the matching number, and head off to make a splash!

Learn more: Little Bins for Little Hands

15. Tell time on a giant clock

Draw a giant clock face with hours and minutes on the playground with sidewalk chalk. Choose two students to be the hour and minute hands, then call out a time and send them out to become the clock. Add more complicated elements by having them add to or subtract from the initial time too. (“Now it’s 23 minutes later!”)

Learn more: Creative Family Fun/Sidewalk Chalk Clock

16. Measure your frog jumps

Have your students hop like frogs, leap like gazelles, or jump like kangaroos. Then, pull out the ruler or measuring tape so they can measure the distances they’ve covered.

Learn more: Coffee Cups and Crayons

17. Jump to math facts practice

Lay out a grid like the one shown that has the answers to whatever set of math flash cards you’re currently working with. (This teacher used masking tape; you could also do sidewalk chalk on the playground.) Two players face off, one on each side of the board. Show the flash card, and kids race to be the first to jump to the correct square with both feet inside the lines. Get all the rules at the link below.

Learn more: Teaching and Tapas

18. Run a flash-card race

Tape a series of flash cards to the floor and challenge kids to see who can correctly make their way from start to finish the fastest. They can call out the answers or write them down, but they have to get it right before they move on. Kids can race side by side or work independently to beat their own best time.

Learn more: There’s Just One Mommy

19.

Beach balls are so much fun in the classroom. Scribble numbers all over one with a Sharpie, then toss it to a student. Wherever their thumbs land, they add (or subtract or multiply) those two numbers together before tossing the ball to the next student.

Learn more: Saddle Up for Second Grade/Beach Ball Math

20. Do a number dance

Kids who love “Dance Dance Revolution” will get into this one. Make a number mat for each student like the ones shown. Flash an equation with an answer between 10 and 99 on the screen. Kids figure out the answer and jump to put their left foot on the correct tens place, right foot on the ones. They’ll be dancing and spinning as they learn!

Learn more: Number Loving

21. Groove with angles

Teach kids about transversals and the angles they create with some fun dance moves! Get the details for “Dance Dance Transversal” at the link below.

Learn more: Communicating Mathematically

22.

We’re not sure why, but kids simply love stacking cups. Label yours with math problems and answers, then have kids build pyramids and towers galore!

Learn more: The Kindergarten Smorgasboard

23. Measure the height of a tree (no ladder needed)

Kids will be amazed to learn they can measure the tallest tree while keeping their feet on the ground. The link below walks you through the steps with a free printable.

Learn more: From ABCs to ACTs

24. Count and learn on a nature walk

Take an outdoor stroll and practice basic math along the way. This works indoors too—walk the school hallways (quietly) and count doors, windows, posters, and more.

Learn more: Creative Family Fun/Math Walk

25. Hunt for shapes in the world around you

Looking for super-simple and fun active math games? Give students a sheet with shapes to find as you walk around the school or playground. Each time they find the shape, have them trace it on their worksheet and then make a mark to keep track of how many times they’ve seen it.

Learn more: Hands-On Teaching Ideas

26. Steal the balls with addition robbery

Kids compete to see whose basket of balls will add up to the highest amount. The trick? They don’t know at the beginning which balls are worth the most. Learn how to play at the link below.

Learn more: That After School Life

27. Puddle-jump from number to number

Lay out a series of construction paper puddles labeled with numbers. You can call out numbers and have kids jump to the correct one, or have them jump from one to the next in order forward or backward, or even try some skip counting.

Learn more: NurtureStore

28. Paint and hide number rocks

Painted rocks are always a big hit! Have your class help you make these, then hide them around the playground and send kids off to find and answer equations.

Learn more: The OT Toolbox

29. Skip-count along a hopscotch board

A hopscotch board can be used for a lot of fun and active math games. Try it for skip counting: Kids hop along counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, or whatever you’re currently working on. Learn more at the link below.

Learn more: Math Geek Mama/Skip-Counting Hopscotch

30. Aim and throw to practice math skills

Pick up a set of Sticky Darts and draw two dartboards side by side. You can label the rings with any numbers you like. Kids throw the darts and then add, subtract, multiply, or divide the numbers—your choice!

Learn more: Inspiration Labs

31. Design an outdoor board game

Draw a winding path and fill the spaces with math equations. Kids roll the dice and move from space to space (have them jump, skip, or twirl to mix things up). If they get the answer right, they move to the new space. If not, their turn is over. Customizable math games like this can be used at any level.

Learn more: Look! We’re Learning!

32. Turn UNO into an active math game

Grab your UNO deck and get ready to move! Assign each color a movement (hop, touch toes, etc.). As kids draw the cards, everyone completes the movement the correct number of times. Skip and Reverse work as usual, but anyone who gets Draw Two has to draw two more cards and complete the actions on their own while others cheer them on. See more at the link below.

Learn more: Still Playing School

33. Bowl them over while learning math facts

Active math games using recycled materials are economical and good for the environment. Set up empty plastic bottles labeled 1 through 10, then roll the ball to see how many you can knock down. Add up the numbers of the knocked-over bottles to get your score.

Learn more: Learn With Play at Home

34. Compete to win at putt-putt math

Pick up a few dollar-store supplies and make your own putt-putt course. This can be a simple game where kids simply shoot for the highest (or lowest) number. But you can also drive up the complexity by putting equations on the cups that kids have to solve first to determine which is the best cup to aim for.

Learn more: My Catch a Star Classroom!

35. Give a classic game a math twist

Create active math games that give new life to existing resources. For example, add numbers to Twister! For more advanced players, instead of saying “Right hand 5,” try saying “Right hand 14 – 9” to make them think.

Learn more: Math Geek Mama/Twister Math

If you like these active math games and are looking for more ways to move in the classroom, try these 21 Kinesthetic Reading Activities for your most active learners.

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25 Fun Math Activities for Middle & High School Students

By: Virginia | Feb 19, 2021 12:15 PM

If math is your student’s least favorite subject, everything from classes to homework to studying for quizzes and tests can be like pulling teeth.  

But with an extra dose of creativity and fun, dread can turn to delight!

Like any challenging (and important) skill, mastering key math concepts takes practice; unfortunately, that can often look like a worksheet or some other list of tasks that feels more like a mental laundry list than a puzzle kids would be eager to solve.

This genre of practice can be necessary, don’t get me wrong, but if you could use a little help in giving math practice a makeover, we’ll need to step outside that box. The good news is: making math fun to learn for kids isn’t a mystery, and these ideas are simple to implement at home with elementary, middle, or high school students.

Here are 25 fun activities that will spice up your child’s learning routine and can help build community in the classroom, plus students will reap the benefits of “gamified” learning: increased motivation, engagement, and pure enjoyment of learning just for the sake of it. 

More good news: reluctant and enthusiastic mathematicians alike will get a kick out of gamified learning. Take a look with your student, and pick out a few to try this week at home, in math club, and among friends. 

Fun Math Activities for Elementary and Middle School Students

This handy resource adapts the classic Tic-Tac-Toe game for a range of skills and grade levels. Best for elementary and middle school students, this activity can be a quick brain break or an all-out challenge with a prize at stake.

As the website cleverly describes this game, it "raises math fun to a higher power”! Kids will enjoy playing against parents, siblings, or friends, and they’ll have an extra incentive to master the exponents they’ll need for science and math class. 

Yes, you read that correctly! Minecraft has an incredible math educator’s guide that’s guaranteed to intrigue young gamers who could use an extra incentive to bolster their math skills. Learn more about the incredible educational applications of Minecraft. 

Though football season may be over, this activity is a creative one to stash away for the next draft. Algebraic equations can be challenging for many middle school students, and this sporting twist will not only make the practice more bearable, kids will get to see the (sometimes elusive) real-world application of what they’re learning. 

And here is an expert tutorial if your student could use some extra help solving for x.

This foundational skill becomes a lot more enjoyable in game form, and students will strengthen their mental math muscles as they play. 

Ideal for lunch time, kids will be extra-motivated to master proportions and fractions. Converting fractions into decimals, or vice versa? These tutorials will help your student convert the numbers in a trice.  

From averages to exponents to algebra, these pre-designed Jeopardy games will elevate study time and make review something to look forward to. Kids can compete with siblings or virtually with friends!

To crack the safe in this online game, students must correctly use the order of operations. Kids will need to know this to solve math problems, but as they master the skill, a reward like pulling off a heist is a useful motivator.

If you’re looking to revamp your family’s board game collection, why not infuse some fun with math? Proof!, Prime Climb, and Real World Math were each created by teachers and boast hundreds of rave reviews from parents. 

Discounts, fractions, budgeting—there are so many mathematical applications when it comes to shopping for kids’ favorite foods. This activity can easily be done virtually through grocery delivery services or online shopping. 

The game that has entertained kids for countless hours gets mathematical in this rapid fire edition of “War”. 

Learning to add and subtract negative numbers can be tricky. So, to stave off student frustration, this game is a fun way to practice. Plus, this platform offers quick tutorial videos as well, just in case your student could use a refresher. 

Who doesn’t love a great scavenger hunt? Not only would this make a great at-home (and outdoor) activity, kids will practice graphing coordinates and slopes in a hands-on way. 

A sweet introduction to algebraic thinking, this is one of many colorful games Math Playground offers. Players solve for the value of each candy in this online “sweet shop.”

Kinesthetic learning, or learning through movement, is a creative way to increase students’ engagement (and energy levels). If your student is learning to memorize multiplication tables and could use a break from paper and pencil, take a break outdoors with some chalk, and get moving!

Young learners mastering place value will benefit from the visual and kinesthetic aspects of exploring the concept with LEGO. This activity will work with just about any LEGO set you have on hand.

Fun Math Activities for High School Students

STEM worlds collide in NASA’s math series! This website offers activities for algebra, geometry, and pre-calculus paired with the innermost workings of space exploration. 

This probably sounds familiar: when will I need to know this in real life? This range of expertly-designed activities provides valuable connections to practical scenarios that will satisfy even the most skeptical students.  

Think of this fun activity as the antidote to the geometry doldrums. Kids can pick a soundtrack (or use one of the pre-made options), clear the room, and dance their way to knowing all about transversals.

Fun Math Activities for all Ages 

Connecting new (and potentially dull) subject matter to an area of students’ interest is a well-known best practice in education. This resource provides some excellent interdisciplinary projects that blend math skills with art, history, fascinating places around the world, and more.  

If your student is just getting the hang of quadratic equations (or perhaps brushing up for a quiz), this game is a creative way to practice. 

Pi Day, March 14th, is just around the corner, so why not make it a celebration of this all-important number! Check out these elementary and middle school activities, fun games and puzzles for all ages, high school activities, and pi card race to make the day memorable and bring smiles back into the equation.  

This game was called “the most addictive math game since Sudoku” by New York Times games editor, a winning testimonial if ever we’ve heard one. KenKen puzzles are a great way to practice mental math or do a warm up before tackling more complex problems.

Upper middle school and high school students will enjoy seeing trigonometry in action in a familiar pastime and in other real-world applications of math concepts. Each activity is interactive and includes short videos and tutorials to give each game context.  

This investigation answers the question: how does the Coast Guard find and rescue those lost in the vast ocean? Turns out, statistical skills are key to these missions. Kids can learn about how they work and have another great answer to the question “why is math important”?

Have Fun with Math Today!

Let us know how your explorations turn out. Looking for a little extra help? iD Tech offers live online math tutoring to help your student succeed and thrive in the classroom. 

Options include:

• Pre-algebra tutoring
• Algebra I tutoring
• Algebra II tutoring
• Online geometry tutoring
• Precalc tutoring
• Calculus tutoring
• Trigonometry tutoring
• Statistics tutoring 

Plus, our math tips & resources page offers tutorials and more to level up your child's math game.

Activating the creative abilities of junior schoolchildren in mathematics lessons

When implementing the educational program of primary education, one of the general requirements is to create conditions for the development of students' creative abilities by means of all academic subjects.

This task is easily implemented in the lessons of fine arts and labor training when performing all kinds of creative work; in the lessons of Russian and Belarusian literature, when they creatively approach the text being studied; in language lessons, students can not only compose something, but also arrange their fantasies in writing; Yes, and at the lessons "Man and the World" you can also draw, make crafts, compose ecological fairy tales, etc.

And only mathematics, a rigorous science based on the operations of logical thinking, is often left out.
Rather, the teachers themselves often believe that they develop the creative abilities of students in the classroom, and are even ready to "announce the entire list", and quite impressive.

A creative task in mathematics is understood as such as compiling a problem, drawing a picture for a problem, playing the Tangram puzzle, solving a problem with matches, inventing an inverse problem, compiling a problem from a picture, diagram; put a question to a problem, create a problem based on an object from a real environment, create an example with given numbers, create a new figure or pattern from these geometric shapes, create a magic square, restore the missing numbers in equality, change the question so that the problem is solved in two ways, come up with a question for the problem, make an expression from numbers ...

However, even a cursory analysis shows that not all of the listed tasks can really be called creative, despite the fact that they begin with the word “invent”. Creativity is the creation of a new, previously non-existent, the result cannot be predictable, and the solution is algorithmic! “8 birds sat, half flew away” - not only the direct and inverse tasks will be standard, but the pattern for this condition is also obvious, therefore, it has no creative character!
Moreover, sometimes a situation arises in a lesson when a really creative task turns into a stereotype, and at best the task “come up with a task” is a task by analogy, and at worst, this task turns out to be impossible.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      First

Although the focus on the original performance of the task, the ban on repetition and drawing attention to the unusual should be a natural background of modern education, and everyday (by the way, it should be noted right away that a creative approach to work is also required from the teacher himself, and it must be openly demonstrated in as an example).

So, the first thing to start with is integrating mathematics with other subjects and using their creative potential on math content.

A number, a number, an arithmetic sign, a geometric figure, a value, and even a type of problem can become the "heroes" of a fairy tale or a riddle, a song or a proverb!

And they can also be drawn, sculpted, presented in the form of appliqué, collage or embroidery!

I am sure that the dance called "Kilogram" will be very different from the dance called "Second"! Or mathematical theater, when students are invited, for example, to come up with and show a dispute between even and odd numbers or write a story about the acquaintance of a fraction with a segment! (although, of course, you can limit yourself to staging the plot of the problem ...). And you can also try to hold a physical education session on the topic “Area and Perimeter”!

Also, numbers, signs and figures can be used as drudles, when this line becomes the basis for creating some original drawings. For example, "Draw what the number 5 or curly brace looks like."

^{What does the number 3 look like?}

And all these tasks have one thing in common: each work becomes the author's, individual, unexpected, distinctive; therefore, the opportunity for the realization of creative abilities will be provided!

 However, I foresee possible objections: yes, there is creativity in such assignments, but there is not enough mathematics... subject. The technique for creating mnemonic associations for memorizing vocabulary words is well known to everyone. But after all, you can come up with "memory notes" for difficult cases from the multiplication table or new terms!

By the way, with regard to terms, creative tasks may be associated with inventing new names. For example, how else can broken lines be called (inverse problems, a right-angled triangle, diameter, etc.)

Moreover, not only the ideas themselves are of value, but also their analysis with the choice of the most successful, interesting, unusual. And an additional important incentive may be the maintenance of a class-wide creative notebook, in which the most striking options will be recorded.

The next method of activating the imagination involves introducing the restriction . Let's remember: "Necessity for invention is cunning!" And if, instead of a task, you come up with a task based on a picture depicting an aquarium with fish, offer to come up with a task, but not about fish, then there will be incomparably more original answers! Moreover, in the course of the lesson, the rules can be complicated, for example, “we no longer invent about objects in the aquarium”, “we no longer compose about water”, “we no longer name the price of objects”, etc. It is highly desirable that students come up with not only the conditions of problems, but also solve them (in grades 3-4, this work can be organized as a competition between groups, when students first come up with and write down problems on a card, and then exchange them and find a solution).

It is clear that tasks with restrictions can be given not only by drawing. For example, read inequalities without using the words "more" or "less", or count up to 20 to 30 without saying the number "twenty", or tell the division algorithm without using the word "remainder", etc. At the same time, it is recommended to ensure that substitute words are not repeated either (it is recommended that such tasks be carried out in the form of a game in a knockout circle).

The famous writer Gianni Rodari in his book "Grammar of Fantasy" quotes the saying that one learns from mistakes, but emphasizes that one learns - to fantasize! Indeed, an incorrectly spelled word can become the plot twist. However, it is also possible to correct errors creatively in mathematics. Try to offer students an equality (inequality, equation, conversion of values, diagram, drawing, etc.) made with an error, and give the task to come up with as many different options as possible to make it correct.

For example, the error in the equation "5 - x \u003d 7" can be eliminated by replacing the "-" sign with a "+", or by "turning" 5 into 15, or by adding "minus 6" after 7, or simply by crossing out the "equals" sign "!

It is clear that the technique "Creative error" is not universal, it cannot be used when solving problems. However, when working with problems, another technique will be effective - " Explainers" , which consists in putting forward various assumptions that explain the numerical data used in the problem.

For example, “Why did fewer people get off at the first stop than at the second?”, “Why was the yield of the first field less?”, “Why did they buy a different number of shallow and deep plates?”, “Why will the second pipe fill the pool faster?” , “Why is the clock 10 minutes faster?”, “Why is the dress more expensive than the suit?”, “Why did the skier decide to come back and ride back?” etc.
At the same time, it is recommended that students name not one option, but several, which can immediately be reflected in the wording of the task, for example: “Name at least 5 reasons why the scales may show incorrectly.” It is also recommended to invite students to name not only the real causes of events, but also to invent fantastic ones.

And based on the need to build training based on a competency-based approach, you can widely use the technique “Where will it come in handy in life?” Activation of both creative and logical thinking occurs in the process of searching for an answer to a question, when it is necessary to find the scope of information obtained as a result of solving a problem. For example: “Why do you need to know the length of your step?”, “Where might you need to know how much a kitten and a puppy weigh?”, “Why count the number of pages in a book?”, “Can there be a situation in real life when a caterpillar and the snail will crawl towards each other?”, “How will the hostess be able to bring home all her purchases from the store?” and so on.

One of the most effective methods of composing problem plots can be the use of morphological analysis . First, together with the students, one should determine the “axes” - the components of the plot of the problem. For example, the location of the action, the time of the action, the participants in the task, the actions of the participants in the task, etc. Then, in groups, the “axes” are filled in: inventing original interesting answers.

For example:
Where? Under water, on the moon, in a cave, in a hollow, in Antarctica, in the subway ...
When? In primitive times, under King Peas, in the 3rd millennium, late at night, yesterday, a year later. ..
Who? Smurfs, musicians, crybabies, fairies, YouTubers, dinosaurs…
What did you do? They danced, competed, built, burned, shouted ...

Then the answers of all groups are voiced or placed on the board, after which the students are asked to come up with an original task (and if one of the axes can be the types of tasks that the teacher will offer, then it is possible to work out and consolidate the learned material).

Scientific school under the direction of A.V. Khutorsky, in order to realize the creative potential of students, heuristic tasks are developed in all academic subjects, on the basis of which distance Olympiads "Eidos" are held. As for mathematics, the following main types of tasks can be distinguished:
- “Describe” (number, sign, geometric figure): what color is it? Taste? Smell? What can be his character, his friends and enemies?
- Qualities of Numbers (what numbers (signs, geometric shapes) would you call funny? Kind? Smart? Fast? Terrible? Beautiful? and why)
- "Think up a new one" what does it mean; you can also come up with names for different types of numbers (for example, numbers in which all the digits are the same, or numbers that contain zeros inside, or numbers that end in the number 7, etc. )
- "Imagine" (" You are a number (a sign, a geometric figure. Why do you think so? What would you do if you could turn into it?)
- "Collection of Numbers" (collect and write down as many numbers as possible that relate to your family, our class, school, city; arrange the result in the form of a poster or presentation).