Creative Family Fun

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Terri Thompson

12 Fun Ways to Practice Math Facts

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We’ve been spending a lot of time memorizing math facts at home and it won’t end any time soon. Because, once we’ve mastered those addition facts, we’ve got to add subtraction facts and then later multiplication.

Needless to say, this can get boring rather fast. So, let’s make it fun with these 12  fun ways to practice math facts.

Ditch the flash cards and practice math with one of these fun ways to practice math facts. These ideas are fun for home or the classroom.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Here are 12 fun ideas for practicing math facts that I’ve rounded up from some fantastic blogs. They are all easy to make and several even come with free printables. Your kids will love these ideas.

Fun ways to practice math facts

Use bubble wrap and dot stickers to make this fun, poppable math facts game from Meaningful Mama.

You can easily make this simple Ways to Make Ten game from Inspiration Laboratories. Grab a few supplies, such as clothespins and craft sticks, and spend a few minutes to make this fun math game.

You can also use those craft sticks to make our game of Math Fact Sticks. It’s a little like memory and a lot of fun to play.

Take your learning outside! Kitchen Floor Crafts has a fun game of Sum, Say, and Spray you can play on the sidewalk. Even your most reluctant learner will jump at the chance to use a spray bottle of water during math time.

You can easily use Peg-A-Number Fact Game from Learning 4 Kids over and over again. Download and print the number cards to use with any set of math facts you need.

Boy Mama Teach Mama also has a great, printable math game you can use. Plus 1, Minus 1 Card Game is a fun game to play in pairs (and can be played alone as well.) She also has a printable version of Plus 5, Minus 5 and Plus 10, Minus 10 at this same link.

Grab a spatula! Addition Pancakes from I Can Teach My Child is such a fun way to learn math facts. It’s a DIY game that doesn’t require any special supplies. Your kids will have a blast.

Do your kids need to move while they learn? Make a version of our Math Fact Islands game, so they can jump and learn at the same time.

Gather some play dough and a few other supplies for a game of Ladybug Addition at Rainy Day Mum. Your kids who are just starting to learn their math facts will enjoy this hands-on game.

If you’ve got some plastic Easter eggs, you can make a set of Addition Family Eggs from Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas. This game is well worth the extra trip to the store to pick up a pack or 2 of plastic eggs.

Is your child trying to master their doubles facts? Download and print this Doubles Facts Addition Game from The Measured Mom. It’s way more fun than flash cards!

If your kids have mastered the easier addition facts and are moving on to the harder ones, The Measured Mom has a great printable game that you can use. All you need is a printer and some playing pieces and you’re ready to go.

Do you know of any other fun ways to practice math facts?

Learn Math Facts with Math Fact Sticks

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Luckily for us, my daughters’ school is trying very hard to make learning fun for the kids.

I’ve been spending a lot time at their school volunteering in the classroom. While there, I’m learning some fun and easy ways to help the kids learn math facts and succeed at math.

Some of things they are doing would be perfect for at-home practice. I’m going to pass on some helpful hints to you, so you will have the tools your need to help your child succeed.

Math Fact Sticks are a fun and easy game to help your child learn math facts. Play this fun math game with one or two kids.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more information.

These math fact sticks are a variation of a game that they play at my daughters’ school to help the kids learn math facts. I’ve simplified the game a bit so that it works better for us at home and makes it easy to play with one person.

Math Fact Sticks are a fun and easy game to help your child learn math facts. Play this fun math game with one or two kids.

Make the Game

It took me only a few minutes to create the game.

All you need are craft sticks, a permanent marker, and a list of the math facts your child needs to learn.

My daughter often brings home math fact lists or sets of flashcards. Either of these will help you make the game.

If you don’t have that, feel free to ask your child’s teacher for a list of facts your child is learning. Most teachers are delighted to know that you’re working on this at home.

You will need 2 craft sticks for each math problem. Write the problem on one stick and the answer on the other stick. Leave one side of each craft stick blank.

Math Fact Sticks are a fun and easy game to help your child learn math facts. Play this fun math game with one or two kids.

Learn Math Facts While You Play the Game

Divide the sticks into two piles, one for the problems and one for the answers. Lay them out in two columns, blank side facing up.

Game play is similar to playing Memory. Turn over one stick from the first column and one stick from the second column. Trying to match the problem to the answer. If the two sticks don’t match, turn them both over and try again.

When you find a match, remove both sticks from the game area.

Keep playing until you find all matches. You can play this game with one to two people.

Math Fact Sticks are a fun and easy game to help your child learn math facts. Play this fun math game with one or two kids.

As my daughter gets more and more comfortable with the math facts, I hear her say the answer before she even turns over a stick from the second column. I know the facts are sticking. She practices more; it’s a game after all. And, I don’t hear any moaning and groaning about math time. Score!

The next time you need to learn math facts, ditch the flashcards and make up a set of math fact sticks instead.

Math Fact Sticks are a fun and easy game to help your child learn math facts. Play this fun math game with one or two kids.

Prehistoric Rock Paintings: Exploring Algeria Through Art

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Our third stop in Project: Around the World was to the country of Algeria. Algeria is located on the northern coast of Africa. (See it on the map here.) The majority of the population lives along the coast line because about 80% of its land is covered by desert, specifically the Sahara Desert. Inspiration came easy for this project once we discovered the prehistoric rock paintings in Tassili n’Ajjer. The Tassili n’Ajjer rock paintings are some of the oldest artwork in the world and is considered one of the most important groupings of prehistoric art in the world. (You can read an extensive description, plus view many pictures of Tassili n’Ajjer, at this link from the World Heritage Convention.)
Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more details.
Supplies Needed:
Roll of brown kraft paper
Painter’s tape
Washable paint
Old sheet or drop cloth
To prep this project, I cut a length of the brown paper off the roll. I crumpled it up and smoothed it out before taping to the wall to mimic the texture of the rocks. I always use painter’s tape when I stick anything to the wall. It’s a bit hard to get off the back of the paper (and will sometimes peel a bit of the paper), but it will protect your wall. Spread out your drop cloth on the ground underneath your paper.
Note: I normally don’t specify the type of paint you should use, but for this project I would HIGHLY recommend the washable paint. You know, for that washable factor!

 

After viewing some online pictures of Algeria and reading the book, The Sahara Desert: The Largest Desert in the World by Megan Lappi, I showed the girls their invitation to create. We talked a bit about the Tassili n’Ajjer rock paintings before beginning. What colors do you see in the rock paintings? We knew the paint came from natural materials so we pulled out the brown and orange paints as best color matches. What materials did they use for painting? We decided that using their fingers was one possibility, so that’s what we used to do our paintings. We also talked about how these paintings sometimes told stories, so the girls decided to try and tell their own stories of the desert.

 

The girls had a lot of fun creating their rock paintings with their fingers. My 5-year-old especially got into it. She painted a fennec fox, a chameleon, and painted around her hand to represent humans. My 7-year-old painted a camel and mountains. It was so much fun and they proudly told their dad the stories once he came home from work.
We loved making our own versions of the prehistoric rock paintings of Tassili n’Ajjer and my 5-year-old want to do this again sometime. But, now it’s time to move on to another country. Andorra is coming up soon!
Thank you for joining us on our virtual trip around the world.
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Fun Math Facts Game – Math Fact Islands

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Every single day I see the words “practice math facts” in my 2nd grader’s planner. In fact, I also saw that every single day when she was in 1st grade.

Do you see that too?

It’s a hard task, and it’s definitely not something we do on a daily basis. After all, the last thing my daughter wants to do after a full day at school is come home and get drilled with flash cards.

We did a lot of car drills with the easier facts (car drills = me calling out problems while on a car trip and she would try to answer as fast as she could). But now, I’m trying to come up with a fun math facts game so we can practice and have a little fun at the same time.

Learn and move with this fun math facts game, Math Facts Islands. This gross motor math fun is a fun way to practice and a great way to move after school.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more details.

One way to add a little fun to our math fact drills was to add movement. If you’ve got a child that is a kinesthetic learner (one who learns best through movement), take note. They’ll love this fun math facts game and so will any child desperate to move after a long day at school.

Learn and move with this fun math facts game, Math Facts Islands. This gross motor math fun is a fun way to practice and a great way to move after school.

How to make your Math Facts Islands game

To make the game, I took a pile of craft foam circles and wrote an addition problem one side. I then flipped it over and wrote the answer.

We were working on our doubles +1 facts (5+6, 7+8, 8+9, etc.), but you can play this game with any set of math facts.

I used the craft foam for durability, but you can use paper circles or even paper plates instead.

Learn and move with this fun math facts game, Math Facts Islands. This gross motor math fun is a fun way to practice and a great way to move after school.

How to play this fun math facts game

We scattered the math facts islands on the floor, math problem side up.

My daughter jumped from island to island and called out the answer when she landed on it.

We did it several times because it was just so much fun.

To add a little challenge to the game, we flipped all the islands over and she had to give me a math problem that matched the answer.

You can play a different version of this game using a coin or other small item that you can toss.

In this version, my daughter would toss the item and try to get it to land on the island. Then, she had to say the answer to the problem.

We enjoyed the jumping version of the game better, but I wanted to share this version because your child is different and may very well enjoy this version better.

Learn and move with this fun math facts game, Math Facts Islands. This gross motor math fun is a fun way to practice and a great way to move after school.

If the idea of practicing math facts with your child makes you groan, try this version. They’ll have so much fun, they won’t even notice how much they’re practicing. Plus, you won’t have to listing to any complaining!

You may also like one of these fun math games:

Addition with Rocks – A Fun Outdoor Math Game

Driveway Hundred Chart

Learn Math Facts with Math Fact Sticks

Making Ten with Cars from Better Than Homework

Nuts and Bolts Number Sentences at Rainy Day Mum

Colorful Buildings: Exploring Albania Through Art

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Our second stop in Project: Around the World was Albania. Albania is a small country located in Eastern Europe, just east of the heel of the boot that is Italy. (See it on a map here.) It was a little bit difficult to narrow down our inspiration. Albania is a beautiful country and I found many examples of beautiful buildings and traditional folk costumes. In the end, we stumbled across the town of Tirana. Tirana was completely downtrodden until mayor Edi Rama decided to brighten the spirits of the citizens with paint. Tirana is now completely transformed and is full of the most fun and beautiful brightly colored buildings. (You can see before and after examples at this link from TEDx.) For our art project inspired by Albania, we took a few simple supplies and made our own version of the colorful buildings of Tirana.
Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more details.

 

Supplies Needed:
White paper
Pencil
Oil pastels (crayons or markers will also work)
Before designing our buildings, we folded each piece of paper in half. Make a sharp crease to help the buildings stand up.
Next, we used our pencils to add our doors and our windows. We outlined these with black oil pastel to help them stand out. Most of the buildings we was in the pictures were larger apartment buildings, so we tried duplicating this on our buildings.
After we were satisfied with our basic buildings, we started adding the bright colors. You can be inspired by the pictures of Tirana or dream up your own design. Both girls decided to add a little big of nature to their buildings with clouds, trees, and flowers. Once we finished, we refolded the paper and stood our buildings up. We had our own mini version of the colorful buildings in Tirana.
Our virtual trip to Albania was short, but fun. I won’t have a separate book post this time since I was unable to find any books about Albania. I did find one folk story in the the book, Magic Hoofbeats: Fantastic Horse Tales retold by Josepha Sherman. If you know of any books about Albania, please let me know in the comment section. Otherwise, online you can browse through Lonely Planet’s guide to Albania for pictures and information about places you can visit.
Thanks for traveling along on our virtual trip around the world!

 

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