15th November 2018

Maths warm up games: 5 of the best

Maths warm up games: the best way to start your lesson

It can be tricky to get your class to warm to maths, especially if you’ve been assigned the class immediately after lunch! This might just be the time to break out a maths warm up game.

Pupils of all ages respond to warm up games (including spelling games) – they can work wonders for getting your class enthusiastic about the subject before launching into more complex mathematical challenges.

If your class seem restless at the start of your lesson or you are encountering disruptive behaviour, a fast-paced and engaging warm up is just the thing for burning off a little energy and aiding concentration later on.

‘Who am I?’

‘Who am I?’ Is a simple but fun maths warm up game. Write a first person statement from the perspective of a number and have the class guess who the number is. You can use maths skills your class has learned recently in order to test their applied knowledge of the subject.

The best part about this challenge is that it can be adapted for any age group. All you need to do is make the difficulty appropriate. The ‘Who am I?’ game also mimics the question structure of plenty of exam papers, which present pupils with real-life scenarios.

Groups

This is an ideal warm up game for groups of younger children. Clear a space and get all the pupils to stand up, then call out a sum. The pupils must get into groups of the number that is the answer to the sum as quickly as possible.

Allow the sums to become increasingly complex as the game goes on. Don’t forget to throw your pupils curveballs by giving them sums where the answer is the number of children in the class.

‘I Have, Who Has…?’

‘I Have, Who Has…?’ is a highly versatile maths warm up game that can be played with the entire class at once. The only prop is a series of pre-prepared cards. Shuffle these and give one to each child.

Each card has the phrase, ‘I have [insert number]’ at the top. Written beneath is the phrase ‘Who has the number which…?’ [a sentence describing another number]. The person whose number is the answer to the previous question then stands up and says, ‘I have [insert number]. Who has…?’ and then reads a sentence of their own.

Instead of a number, one card has ‘I am the starter’ written on it in addition to their question. The person with the starter card begins the game.

Bingo

Make enough bingo sheets to go around the class. Each bingo sheet should contain multiple answers. When you read out the questions, the pupils cross the answers off their sheets, if they are there.

Maths bingo can be designed to suit children of any age. You might want to make a couple of packs suitable for each year group that you are teaching, laminate them and have pupils cross them off in whiteboard pen so that you can use them again and again.

High speed mental maths

Prepare with a list of mental maths questions appropriate for the skill level of the group that you are teaching. Get all your students to stand up in a circle, then go round asking them rapid-fire questions.

Students sit down once they have answered a question correctly. If they get it wrong they remain standing. Keep going around the circle until all pupils are sitting down.

For added excitement keep a record of your score and try to beat it each lesson. Or divide your class into teams and let them race against each other, with a point for the team who solves the question the fastest. The team with the most points wins.

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