We don’t know about you, but we are always looking for engaging maths games to kick off the year with a bang! It is important to us that our students get a sense from the very beginning that Maths lessons in our classroom will be fun.

Our first maths lessons of the year usually include a range of number games that the kids can rotate and even play when they have finished other tasks early.

Here are 7 of our favourite Maths games to begin the school year that are guaranteed fun, and require minimal prep and resources:

1. Rounding Games

Rounding fluency is a tricky concept for kids, so we always throw a rounding game into the mix. The more kids have the opportunity to work on this skill, the more they will come to understand how it works. Over the years, we have tried so many things, but games have been the clear winner when engaging and understanding. If you want more inspo on how to get your students confidently rounding numbers (beyond just remembering ‘the rule’ – check out this blog post).

2. Trading Games

Trading grades are a superb way for students to repeatedly practice how 10 ones equal 1 ten, 10 tens make 1 hundred and so on. What you’ll need is multi-link cubes and a class full of eager little minds. We have played these trading games with Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4, however, you can introduce them in Year 1. Read our blog post on How to Introduce Trading Games with your Class if you haven’t played them before with your students.

7 Awesome Maths Games to Start the School Year - Rainbow Sky Creations

3. Flip it Multiplication

Kids LOVE this FREE game, and it is so easy to set up. They can play in pairs or individually. There is minimal organisation, minimal material needed but maximum fluency development!

Find more multiplication and division fluency games here.

4. Anything UNO cards

We love using UNO cards for all things mathematics. There is so much you can do with them to support your learners. When using them to compare numbers, students can work on different sized numbers by using more or fewer cards – instant differentiation! Check out this blog post for more ideas.

Grab this place value game for FREE here.

5. Friends to Ten Fluency

Developing fluency in number bonds to ten is one thing we need to continue to revise, so it becomes second nature to our children. Games like these are great for group rotations, for kids to play on their own, or even send home for extra practice.

Find the game pictured here.

6. Place Value Board games

Get your students super confident with their number sense skills using board games like this where they need to put their knowledge into action. Games such as these are also great for developing mathematical language.

7. Making $1 blocks

Another great FREEBIE that is a hands-on, differentiated activity that develops fluency with money combinations that make one dollar. It helps students recognise that 100 cents make $1 and assist with counting and ordering larger collections of money. Build proficiency, fluency and confidence in learning about combinations to $1 with an activity like this.

The beginning of the school year is always a busy time but creating games like these that your students are guaranteed to love means you will be able to use them over and over throughout the year.

If your students enjoy any of these games, we would love to hear about it!