For this and many other reasons, multiplication is one of the hardest math concepts for students to learn — requiring a fair amount of instruction and practice that can sometimes be exasperating.
Integrating various teaching strategies into your lesson plans — including games — can assist you in increasing proficiency in multiplication, subtraction, addition, division, decimals and other fundamental math skills.
Multiplication games can be great to include game-based learning in material to help students understand their times tables and multiplication lessons.
Here are fun multiplication games you can use — and make them cheap or 100 percent free! Take a look and find the right one for your classroom in every category!
These games are great for learning multiplication for 3rd grade and 4th grade students, but most are easy to adapt for simpler math, and also for more advanced math students like 5th grade and up. Bookmark the examples below for use later, or use them to inspire your own math games.
Online multiplication games
These free online multiplication learning games for students add technology to your lessons and extend class concepts.
Prodigy Math
Featured partner: Prodigy Math Prodigy Math is an engaging, standards-aligned, game-based learning platform that makes practicing math skills enjoyable.
This differentiated instructional multiplayer learning game, students develop their math skills (like multiplication) individually in a supportive, adjustable format.
Many free teacher resources are available from Prodigy to help you and your class as a teacher to help you save time. Specify material for students to work on using the Assessments tools, then track their progress using tailored reports.
Using Prodigy, you can target a wide range of multiplication skills, from concrete pictorial representations to abstract or contextual problems (to name a few). Decide what you want to target, depending on your grade level and curriculum, and Prodigy will instantly create appropriate math problems to help you build these skills.
Kahoot!
Kahoot is a timed online game that’s perfect for review sessions. Students can log in to their devices to answer questions and battle for a place on the scoreboard.
Materials:
- Projector/interactive whiteboard (if anyone wants to build more collaboration into the process)
- Tablets or computers made available for student use
- Teacher account on Kahoot!
Steps:
- Create a teacher account and sign in
- Search for an existing kahoot in the search bar, or click Create to make your own.
- Add a screen to kAdd screen to kahoots with a personal launch pageWhen you have your kahoot, click Play.
- Your class is prompted to enter the Game PIN on their devices and start the game.
- Players acquire points as their answers are correct and faster than their competitors. At the end, we see the top 3 players.
Multiplication.com
Multiplication. com provides a full menu of quick and easy games for students to practice and their skills. Each mini–game is set up to allow students to practice their knowledge of math facts for a certain Common Core standard. If you’re searching for things like station rotations or indoor recess games, this can be perfect.
Materials:
- Internet-enabled computers or tablets
Steps:
- Visit Multiplication. com and select “games”.
- Select a game for your students to play, and each of them is connected to a Common Core standards.
- Students should play while practicing multiplication skills.
Multiplication Classroom Games, Simple to Setup
These performances, with hands-on examples, are simple to cook and perform. Use them as quick games at the beginning or end of a lesson to entertain your class while practicing multiplication facts. (Also see our multiplication table, another resource.)
Back to back
Watch your new students swap out the first class a friendly competition or polish off their maths skills. This multiplication game could use some extra brain power; it asks for a multiplier rather than a product.
Materials:
Chalkboard or whiteboard (and chalk or markers)
Steps:
- Take two students to face the board away from each other.
- As soon as you say “go”, every student copies a number from [1 to 10] (or whatever range works for your class) on the board.
- Does that make sense?
- Whoever guesses the other person’s number first wins that round.
- The “winner” of the round remains at the board, and the “loser” is taken out and replaced by another student.
- Whoever has the highest streak (most rounds won in a row) wins.
- Tip: If students are having difficulty, prompt them to write the equation on the board to assist with finding the answer.
True or false?
This game is easier than many others on this list, because students have a 50/50 shot at giving the right answer. Play a few quick rounds at the end of class, or turn it into a tournament. The choice is yours!
Materials:
True or False cards, double-sided
Steps:
- Divide the class into teams, and give each a true or false card.
- Display a true or false multiplication sentence on the board (or use a projector)
- Tell the teams they have one minute to discuss their answer.
- At your cue, both teams simultaneously reveal their “true” or “false” response by holding up the corresponding cards. You get a point for every correct team.
- After 10 questions (or as many as you choose to play), the team with the most points wins.
- Tip: If you have younger students in 1st or 2nd grade, this is also a great addition or subtraction game.
Active multiplication games
Why not kill two birds with one stone? Get some blood pumping and build multiplication skills with games that get students up and out of their seats for math class. These games are best played outside in an open space, or indoors in the gym. The more your class can get up and move around as they play, the better.
Beach ball toss
Pass around a “multiplication beach ball” to help your lesson feel like a day at the beach. It is easy, active and engaging and a good way helps students learn multi-digit numbers multiplication.
Materials:
- Extra-large inflatable beach ball
- Permanent marker
Steps:
- This is where they cover it with anything that has multiplication questions (8×7, 6×2, etc.).
- In an open space, form students into a large circle.
- After catching the ball, each student reads the question closest to their right pinky finger.
- Once everyone gets the answer, the ball is passed to the next person.
- Tip: Use multiple beach balls to make the game competitive and split the class into groups. Each group keeps track of how many questions they answer, and whoever answers the most after all the questions are asked wins!
Bean bag race
This game throws a math twist into your typical relay race. Students were working on addition and multiplication simultaneously, thereby generating a true multiplication problem in real life. This can be slightly repackaged as a division game for students learning long division.
Materials:
- Small bean bags, multicolored
- Two medium baskets or buckets (or hula hoops will also work)
Steps:
- Separate and Scatter colored bean bags on the floor. Each color will represent a different monetary value. Orange bean bags are 20 each, blue are 10 each and so forth.
- Divide students into two equal groups and have each group line up behind one of the baskets.
- Write a multiplication equation for the class to figure out.
- Each group has one minute to devise their response and plan. Their basket will hold the bean bags which represent the product of their multiplication problem.
- On your “go” cue, one team member from each group will run across to the bean bags. Each individual may retrieve simply one bean bag to put in their basket and tag the subsequent group member.
- When the last bean bag goes into the basket, everyone sits down together to indicate they’re done.
- To verify the answer is correct, count the bean bags in the winning team’s basket. If [the Answer] is correct, the team receives two points. If it isn’t, the other team can “steal” the answer for one point.
- They then attempt to earn points through gameplay and the team with the most points at the end wins.
Jeopardy!
A time-tested review game that adds a bit of healthy competition to the classroom. Adapt question sets to find the appropriate balance of challenge for your class.
Materials:
- Interactive Whiteboard or Projector
- Game template — create your own multiplication game in Factile or borrow an existing game
- Buzzers or other noisemakers (Factile also offers “buzzer mode” you can use with devices)
Steps:
- Divide the students into teams and provide each team with a buzzer.
- Have one team pick a category and point value to start with the first question.
- Display the question on the screen and read it aloud. The team that buzzes in first gets to answer in the form of a “what is” question.
- If they are correct, they earn that point value. If they’re incorrect, another team can ring their buzzer and scoop up the points.
- You can track points in-game. At the end, the team will have the most points, and therefore the winner.
- Tip: use a sound clip from Jeopardy to get a sense of time that makes it feel more authentic.
Musical multiplication games
These games combine math and music, so turn up the volume and add a little groove to your daily multiplication times practicing.
Musical Chairs
Get your entire class dancing away with multiplication musical chairs. Each time students sit down, they answer a variety of multiplication questions. Unlike the classic version, chairs are never removed to give everyone the chance to answer as many questions as possible.
Materials:
- Flash cards with multiplication questions (the amount depends on how many students you have)
- Blank paper and pencils
- Speakers
- Don’t forget the biggest part, music! Listen to this playlist by missbensko on Spotify.
Steps:
- The question card should be placed at every desk
- At the start of the game, give each student a blank piece of paper and tell the students to number it.
- Ask the students to get up and dance (or walk) around the room while the music plays.
- When the music stops, students have to search for the nearest empty desk and solve the question. Advise them to compare the matching numbers of the card and paper.
- Play as many rounds as you want. Not all students will necessarily be able to answer every question, so take up the answers as a class when the game is complete.
Battle of the bands
In this high-energy musical game, students can be songwriters, performers and times table experts. See your class compete to be the best performers while helping their peers learn useful tricks to remember multiplication facts.
Play this game to get your students writing word problems into songs for further contextual material.
Materials:
- Blank paper and pencils
Steps:
- These need to be notational but you can share these ideas and show your class a multiplication Flocabulary video for inspiration.
- Separate students into groups and give each group a number (not the number from the video you showed).
- Allow 30-45 minutes for each team to write and choreograph a song or rap about their assigned number’s multiplication table.
- The groups present their songs, one group at a time, to the class.
- Collect votes from the whole class for their favorite performance. Whichever group receives the most votes wins the “battle.”
- Card multiplication games
- Because you can do so many different things with them, card decks may well be your most powerful investment for classroom games. Most can fit any math material.
- Here are a few fun ways to use card games for multiplication practice.
War
In this version of the standard favorite, each player flips over two cards in an attempt to find a product. It’s good practice for another core skill, multiplying numbers as quickly as you can.
Materials:
- Card decks
- The following supplies will be needed: ↑↑ Blank paper and pencils (for scoring)
Steps:
- Divide the students into pairs, and give each pair a deck of cards.
- A player shuffles the cards and deals them face up until the deck is spit.
- Players flip over two cards at once and compute the product of their “equation.”
- They keep all four cards and place them at the bottom of their deck.
- If each player receives the same card, they have a “war” and must each flip over two additional cards. The winner of that round wins all eight cards.
- Play continues until one player collects all of the cards. At the end, the player who has the most cards wins if the game is timed.
- Remove high value cards to make the game easier.
Spiral
A Multiplying Twist: Convert card decks to game boards with a multiplication game that twists and turns. The players multiply dice values with card values and race to the center of the spiral.
Materials:
- Card decks
- Game pieces
- Dice
Steps:
- Arnold Split the class into groups and give each group a card deck.
- Instruct players to place the cards in spiral shape to form their game board.
- Players roll the dice and, on their turn, move their respective game pieces around the game board.
- The player will have to multiply the value of their die witht the value of the card when it lands on the card. The other players will “fact check” the answer. If they are right, they remain where they are. If they’re mistaken, they return to the last spot.
- Whoever reaches the card at the center of the spiral first wins.
- You can add more rules to vary this game. For instance, if a player rolls a double, meaning that the value of the die and card are the same, they get an additional turn.
- Tip: Pair up students (everyone works off of one game piece per partner group) to foster team strategizing and allow all levels of skill to do well at the game.
So, how are you doing Multiplication Games?
New ideas come up at the beginning of multiplication lessons. Just as students get cozy with the sum, and the difference, math class turns its focus to the product. Keeping up can be a struggle.
As stressful as it can be, though, mastering multiplication is an incredibly valuable skill to learn. Here’s an example: One study cited multiplicative thinking as a prerequisite to achieving success in many other subjects later on. Illustrated through the discussion, students need to build a conceptual foundation for multiplicative thinking by learning and recalling best-known multiplication facts.
In contrast to the relative quick timeframe a child (and even later potentially) may develop the process of additive thinking, the conception and development of multiplication concepts will take many, some say as much as 8 or more years and not be fully mastered by a student until they are well into their teen years.
Results from another study highlight the significance of visuals and concrete manipulatives for helping students grasp math material. Multiplication games serve as a better alternative for worksheets, as they add a visual aspect to the learning process and helps the learner move from a concrete based framework into an abstract based framework by pushing them to learn more.
Games for learning multiplication unlock math
Multiplication may be hectic for students, but it doesn’t need to be. Multiplication games provide a fun and engaging format for students to visualize and process content. Mix up your classroom and get your students excited about this crucial math topic using these ideas at any point of your math lesson!
Play Prodigy Math, an engaging, game-based learning platform that measures students’ knowledge and skills as they play! In line with math curricula throughout the English-speaking world, more than a million teachers and 100 million students have used Prodigy to master multiplication and other math skills.
