The game of sim is an easy-to-learn pencil and paper game of drawing lines and avoiding triangles. Unlike many other similar pencil and paper games, there is always a winner!
Beginning of Year Activities
Need a first day of school activity for your math class? These fun number contests will engage your students, force them to reason and collaborate together, and add a fun dose of competition to the first day. The first day of school here in my part of Oklahoma has come and gone. I have now …
Circle Tic Tac Toe is a fun twist on classic tic-tac-toe that is played on a circular grid. Having 3 different ways to win makes this game fun and engaging!
Tired of regular, old tic tac toe? Take things up a notch with this free printable PDF template for Ultimate Tic Tac Toe. Challenge your students, friends, or family with this strategic twist on the classic game.
Left Center Right was first published by George & Company LLC in 1992. It is an entirely luck-based dice game for groups of three or more players. I received a copy of the game several years ago for a gift, and I have been using it in my math classroom ever since then! I have …
Tomorrow is my first day of the school year with students! Yesterday and today were teacher days, and I do not feel fully ready and prepared for back to school this year. Even though I feel like I could use another week or so to prepare, I am excited about having students back in my …
Looking for ideas as you plan your first day of school math activities? I’ve got enough fun and interactive activities here to last you the entire first week of school and then some!
Several years ago, I heard about the Let’s Make Squares activity from an OKMath Newsletter sent out by Christine Koerner. She recommended Let’s Make Squares as a great activity for the first week of school. I had already decided that I was going to do the 2s to 9s Challenge as my first day of …
A couple of years ago, I included a really simple getting to know you dice activity in my first day of school activities. It’s super easy to implement, and it makes a great time filler activity if you have a few odd minutes during that first week of school. All you need is a die. …
Several years ago, I spent my summer typing up numerous group work activities from Elizabeth Cohen’s Designing Groupwork. These activities included Guess My Rule, Rainbow Logic, and Broken Circles. Recently, I found a fourth activity in my filing cabinet that I had typed up, but I never ended up using since I tend to over-plan …
Engage students on the first day of school with this fun Saving Fred STEM activity which encourages students to practice teamwork while saving a gummy worm named “Fred.”
I’m super excited about using this ink stain matching activity as a first day of school activity for next year. It’s a great conversation starter, and I can see it being used in many different types of classrooms and subjects as a beginning of year team-building activity. If you are still in school and looking …
In this Make Six Puzzle, you are given eight equations. You must insert mathematical symbols (no digits) to make each equation equal six. If you are wondering what mathematical symbols you are allowed to use, that is up to you!
Lonesome Llama is an excellent first day of school activity/first week of school activity to teach students how to effectively communicate in a group. The activity is from IMP (Interactive Mathematics Program) Groups of students are provided with a deck of cards. Each card features a different llama’s house. Students must work together to figure …
Survival in the Desert is a cooperative groupwork task. I have used this task in the past as a first week of school activity. I learned about this activity from reading Kagan’s Cooperative Learning book. I’ve seen the same activity featured in other books as well since then. Today I want to share some free downloads I created …
Most likely, you’ve ran across some variation of the two buckets puzzle at some time in your life. You have two buckets. One bucket holds exactly five gallons. The other bucket holds exactly three gallons. How can you measure exactly four gallons of water into the five gallon bucket? Groupwork Norms for the Two Buckets …
Today I’m excited to share the 20 x 9 Challenge with you and your students. Last summer, I picked up a copy of Pierre Berloquin’s 100 Numerical Games at Goodwill for a couple of dollars. It’s turned out to be a good investment because it has served as inspiration for several fun classroom challenges. Want to …
For the past two years, the Train Game (20 Express by Blue Orange Games) has been my go-to 2nd day of school activity. I’ve mentioned it on my blog before, but I’ve never written an entire blog post explaining it fully. I’ve got so much I want to blog about and so little time to …
In my last post, I shared the Square Pi Puzzle and mentioned that I was updating some older puzzles that have been long-time favorites of my students. Today, I want to share another updated puzzle, the 1-4-5 Square Challenge. I originally shared this puzzle on my blog in May 2015 which seems like an eternity …
I’m here today to share with you the Twelve Envelopes Puzzle. I’ve finally reached a point in the summer where my brain has started thinking about ideas for the new school year. Actually, I’ve been thinking about next year since around February or March, but I’ve finally stopped *just* thinking about next year and started …
Day one and two are in the books! I’ll share a bit more about what I did with my classes on the first two days in a later post, but I want to go ahead and share the mathematical challenge I used with my students on the first day since I have got several questions …
My first introduction to the Panda Squares Puzzle was from one of my favorite inspiration sources: Twitter! I saw a tweet by Jenny Leake that sparked my curiosity. This curiosity led me to do a google search. I was pleasantly surprised to find David Butler‘s blog at the top of the search results. From his …
The Crazy Eight Paper Folding Puzzle may be made up of only a single sheet of paper, but it is actually eight different engaging and infuriating puzzles in one!
Encourage groupwork and communication with this thrilling Cup Stacking Challenge, an ideal team-building activity for the first week of school.
Last year, I learned about an activity called “Make a Million” from Julie Morgan who blogs at Fraction Fanatic. I tried this out with students several times throughout the year. It’s perfect for those awkward five minutes when you get through your lesson plan way faster than you expected. Kids LOVED it, but every time …