Educational Games
The mEducation Alliance is looking to deliver joyful learning to all through educational games and technology. Educational games are activities explicitly designed with learning objectives, but often they are so fun kids do not even realize they are learning! The games listed below are by no means high-tech, with often the only technology needed is the sharing of these games – like this web page. Below you can find example games by type of equipment needed. If you have any more to add to the list, please email us at [email protected]. We will continue to update the games featured!
Games with Dice
Math becomes more fun when you think on the fly! Roll the two 12-sided target dice and multiply them to get a target number. Roll the three scoring dice and combine these numbers using addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or even powers to build an equation that is closest, or equal to, the target. This mentally challenging and fun dice game helps players sharpen math skills by solving problems in a fun new way.
This exciting family dice game, (best for 1-4 players) is modeled after a decathlon. The player with the highest total of points after the ten disciplines wins the competition. You need eight dice and a score sheet The players try to score as many points as possible in each discipline.
Games with Cards
Students take turns playing war using a deck of cards and a pencil to act as the fraction line. The pair of students must then decide who has the larger fraction based on the four cards played. The winner gets to keep all the cards. Player with most cards at end wins. Th goal is to develop quick comparison of fraction values
Use order of operations to get to 24
Math card games aren’t just for little kids; even adults will find this one a bit tricky. Each player is dealt four cards, then uses the order-of-operations rules to try to make a number as close to 24 as possible. Simple but challenging!
Printable Games
Frog is hungry for some money math! Young learners cut out and assemble this simple template, then compete to see who can toss the most coins through the frog’s open mouth. Designed for early learners, this activity is a fun way to practice counting, addition, and money concepts.
Play detective as you put your geometry skills to the test! This hide-and-seek game is a great way to get to know the coordinate plane and practice plotting ordered pairs. Inspired by the game “Battleship”, you must find your enemy spy’s tools on the coordinate plane before he finds yours.
Hey speed racers, rev up your family game night with a fun race car printable board game! All you need are some scissors and tape to bring this game to life. This will be perfect for honing fine motor skills and for your child to practice good sportsmanship.
Escape Games for Education - EscapeIF
Escape Games for classrooms are puzzle-based cooperative games that students have to work together to solve, which have stemmed from the popular trend of Escape Rooms. However, these games often require significant amount of resources.
The mEducation challenged Dr. Scott Nicholson, Escape Games for Education Strategic Advisor, to see if he could develop an escape game for a low-resource classroom where the only thing available was a chalkboard, and in response, he has developed the EscapeIF game system. This game system will allow a teacher to develop and run escape games that require nothing but a chalkboard in a classroom, and once created, the games will require very little preparation time to run. Dr. Nicholson is currently working with teachers to develop a few Escape Games for different age ranges, which we will share when available.
Additional information about Escape Games in general and EscapeIF Basics can be found HERE.
And don't forget about the Math Game Catalog!
The Math Games catalog is a solution meant to help learners practice math fluency, building confidence, and gaining important problem-solving skills by applying math in different contexts. The catalog was a joint creation of Education Above All as part of their Internet Free Education Resource Bank (IFERB) project-based learning resources, the mEducation Alliance’s Math Power! initiative and supported by the Julia Robinson Math Festival. The games are designed for 4 levels of learners from the ages of 4 – 14 years based on a competency framework. Each of the games is fun, requires a low amount of resources, and is implementable in or out of school contexts.
The resources available include:
- A briefing note with the background and design choices
- A competency framework based on Khan Academy’s Common Core learning principles
- Detailed math games for each level that are ready to play
- A backend resource catalog that is a curated and categorized repository of existing open-source math resources
EAA, JRMF, and the mEducation Alliance would appreciate feedback on this tool, so email [email protected]. with any suggestions or tools beyond what is published.
