20 Math Games for Middle School

I found it so easy to keep homeschooling light and fun when teaching elementary school but find that I often struggle to do the same with middle school.

Something about the words middle school make me want to buckle down and pull out all the books, textbooks, and workbooks but I know that is not how my middle school student learns best.

I have to force myself to find fun ways to cover material in order to keep him interested and engaged. Luckily we have a huge selection of games and many of them are just perfect for teaching middle school.


Today I'll be focusing on math and logic games.  Here is just a small sampling of some of our favorite math games that are perfectly appropriate for middle school:


1.  Monopoly-- This game is a favorite of my boys.  They are required to add money, make change, budget their finances, and plan ahead.  We love it!
2.  Life-- Another classic, this family game encourages kids to think about life choices, deal with unexpected surprises, budget money, adding and subtracting money, and my boys don't even mind being the banker for this game.
3.  Laser Maze-- This one player game is perfect for challenging oneself.  There are 60 challenge cards to chose from starting at beginner and going all the way up to expert.  It's challenging without being overwhelming and it's fun!
4.  Sudoku-- This game is prefect for one player.  Traditional Sudoku in board game form we love that this reusable board come with tons of playing ideas.
5.  Q bitz-- This four player game develops memory, visual acuity, pattern identification and dexterity.  Working off the same activity card you must be the first one to copy the pattern. It's fast paced, challenging and lots of fun.
6.  Sequence-- A fun, challenging game that is easy enough for kids to play! Sequence is a card and board game all in one.  A game for thee players (or three teams of players), be the first player to score two sequences or the first team to score one sequence and you win.  Plan your moves carefully because you need five colored markers in a line in order to make a sequence.

7.  Gravity Maze-- Similar to Laser Maze, this one player game became an immediate hit with the boys.  Trying to have the marble run through a maze and ending up in the right spot has been quite challenging.  This game also comes with activity cards ranging from beginner to expert.
8.  Labyrinth-- We just this game for Christmas and we love it.  It's simple enough that all of my kids can play but challenging because the labyrinth is always changing!  Who can be the first to find their way through the maze and find all the objects listed on their cards?
9.  Mastermind-- We love this two player game.  Players take turns setting and trying to break color codes.  There are so many different possibilities and it's not always easy!  Such a fun way to practice logic and reasoning skills.
Mastermind Game -- The Strategy Game of Codemaker vs. Codebreaker -- Can You Crack the Code?
10.  Yahtzee -- We love this classic dice game.  I especially love that it encourages multiplication, adding, and strategy.  We also learn a lot about probability while playing as we try to decide what to roll for.  SO much fun for the whole family.

11. Clue-- This classic game was one of my favorites when I was growing up and I could not wait to introduce it to my kids.  It is so fun to figure out who did it, in which room, with what weapon!  Planning, strategy, and reasoning skills often come into play.

12.  Farkle-- Another dice game!  You can take a risk and keep rolling for the highest score or play it safe so you won't loose any points.  This game requires a lot of adding practice and requires both strategy and a bit of luck.
13.  Rummikub-- Forming runs and sets and trying to be the first one to get rid of all your tiles; this game allows for lots of fun math practice.  Adding up scores and runs, planning out plays, and developing a strategy.
14.  Payday-- Can you make your money last until pay day?!  My kids had fun playing this simple game where you must budget your money in order to win.
Pay Day Board Game (Editions may vary)
15.  Chess-- My kids enjoy playing Chess and it's a wonderful game of strategy and planning.  Add in fun character sets like Mario or Star Wars and they're clamoring to play!
16.  Qwirkle-- Who knew this simple, colorful, game could be so fun for the whole family to play? Strategy, adding up scores, spatial recognition, finding patterns, planning and problem solving are all great ways to practice math and logic while playing.
17.  Kanoodle-- With over 100 challenge puzzles, this one player game is great for developing problem solving and strategic thinking.  Small and easily stored this is one game we enjoy taking in the car.
18.  Memory-- With so many versions of this game floating around we still love playing memory.  It's a wonderful way to build memory skills and we often include other subject areas than just memory building and math/logic when we play-- like when we play History Memory or Animal Track Memory.
19.  Travel Tangrams-- We enjoy working with tangrams and found these travel sets years ago.  They've been great fun while traveling and since the pieces are magnetic they're less likely to get lost.

20.  Square up-- We had so much fun taking turns playing this game at the Children's museum last month that we put it on our wishlist.  It required a lot of planning, strategy, problem solving, and visual thinking.  

Comments

  1. We have several of these games and love them! Thanks for some new ideas!

    ReplyDelete
  2. We love Farkle (it's so easy to travel with - our version is the size of a film canister)! There are a lot of games we haven't tried here - thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome! I'm always on the lookout for new games myself. We love playing games.

      Delete

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