Homeschool Crew Review: Elementary Math Games from The Critical Thinking Co.

 The Critical Thinking Co. publishes fun, award winning, easy to use books and software that help students achieve better academic skills.  They learn to analyze what they are learning and apply critical thinking to their lives. Over the last several weeks I have had an opportunity to use and review Elementary Math Games (Grades 3-5).

 Elementary Math Games (Grades 3-5)  is a 152 page paperback book that can be purchased as a physical book or a digital download. It includes 20 different math games with variations to make the games to make the games more or less challenging.  Some games will require a set of dice or a spinner.  You may also need a pencil and paper.  If game cards are required they are included in the book and there are reproducible pages if needed for some of the games.  Math concepts and skills for each game are listed on the game page and step by step instructions are given.  Concepts included for grades 3-5 include: number sense, operational skills, place value, decimals, fractions, characteristics of numbers, problem solving strategies, and math vocabulary and symbols.

Elementary Math Games (Grades 3-5) includes the following games:

Greater Than, Less Than
Stand Up and Be Counted
Clap Your Hands, Stomp Your Feet
Can You Make...?
Math in a Circle
Fill in the Grid
I Know My Place
Top Ten With a Twist
Let's Sum Up: Odd or Even
Multi-Math Bingo
Place Cards-You're Invited
Order Me!
Where Should I Place the Number?
Primes, Composites, Perfect Squares Factors, and Multiples
Fraction Recipes
Build With Cubes
Fractions and Decimals Let's Compare!
Clothesline Fractions/Decimals
Make 1
Teachable Moments

In the back of the book there is a chart showing the games and different math skills so you can see at a glance which games cover which skills.

You do not have to use this book in any particular order.  You can pick and choose which games you want to play to build your child's math confidence or reinforce skills you have been teaching.  Each Game has several variations so it is easy to adjust the game to your child's skill level.  You can adjust the age range and use it for older children who need help reinforcing their math skills.  I chose this book intending to use it with my 4th and 6th graders but also ended up having my 7th grader join in.  The games are written to be used in a classroom but can be modified to use in a homeschool.  I wanted to build my children's math confidence and show them that math can be fun (none of the three of them enjoy math, they dread doing it every day.)  We chose a weekly game to play and played a few variations of some of the games.  Their favorite was the Multi Math Bingo game.  We started with the Positive Integer Bingo and did the Equivalent Fractions and Arabic to Roman Numerals.  There are 10 variations of the Bingo game to play and reproducible game cards for the student.

The other game they really enjoyed was Math in a Circle.  In this game you have game cards and have to do what it says on the card using the number of the result the person beside you got.  For example if you start with 2 and the card says Double the Number you get 4.  The next person uses that number 4 and follows the directions on their card.  The book says this game works best in groups of 10 but it worked fine for us with only three students although they sat in a line instead of a circle.

Elementary Math Games (Grades 3-5) has a wide variety of games to suit the needs of students in that age range and a little above. Not every game will suit all children.  My 4th grader for example has not yet learned anything about decimals in her math curriculum so we would not play any of the games or variations now but in a year or two could use those. The chart in the back of the book will help you choose the games that uses concepts that your child already knows. I love that you do not need a lot of fancy supplies to play the games and that the reproducibles are included.  The variations allow you to play the games multiple times without the student getting bored with the same old thing.


Member of The Crew reviewed a variety of products from The Critical Thinking Co.  To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!