Here are some simple math games & activities that can be done with things you have around the house.
Super Sums
Use only the 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, and aces (1s) from a deck of cards. Each player writes the numbers 1-12 on a piece of paper. Then each player picks two cards and adds up the numbers on them. The player can mark off that sum on the paper or cross off the two numbers on the cards. Who will be the first to cross off all 12 numbers on the list?
What Are My Chances?
Flip one coin. Every time it comes up heads, your child gets 1 point. Every time it comes up tails, you get one point. Flip it 50 times. Tally by 5s to make it easier to keep track of scores. The person with the most points wins. If one person has 10 points more than the other person does, score an extra 10 points. Does that happen very often? Why or why not?
Money's Worth
Give your child a chance to answer riddles such as "I have three coins in my pocket. They are worth 7 cents. What do I have?" For older students, ask more challenging questions such as "I have six coins in my pocket. They are worth 30 cents. What could I have?" or "The coins in my pocket total 11 cents. How many coins could I have?"
Tracking Time
Together with your child, keep track of the time he or she spends watching television as well as doing homework. Make a table listing the seven days of the week. Keep two columns, one for television and one for homeowork. At the end of the week, see if together you can make a graph comparing the two different activity columns.
Pennies in the Pot
Start the game with 25 pennies. Each player takes a turn rolling a single die and picking up the number of pennies he or she rolls on the die. To pick up the last pennies, however, the number on the die must match exactly the number of pennies that remain. When there are no pennies left in the pot, the player with the most pennies is the winner.
The Game of Pig
Roll a single die. How many dots do you see? If you wish, keep rolling and keep a running total of your rolls; but if you roll a 1, you score a 0 for that round. (The key is to roll as many times as you can without rolling a 1.) Older students can play by the same rules with two dice. If 1 comes up on both dice, your total score goes back to 0.
Numbers in the News
See how many numbers from 1 to 100 your child can find in today's newspaper. Page numbers, dates, and store ads will be good places to start the search. But students will also find lots of numbers on the sports page and throughout the newspaper. Cut out the numbers and paste them in sequence on a sheet of paper. Which ones are missing?
You're Gonna Flip
Flip two coins. If the coins come up two tails or two heads, your child scores 1 point. If the flip comes up one head and one tail, you get 1 point. After 50 flips, see who has more points. Do you think the game is fair? What if one person received 2 points for every double heads and the other person received 1 point for everything else? Is that fair?