It feels like 3rd grade is where the rubber meets the road for a lot of kids. We all remember the brutal timed multiplication tests that were foisted on us as kids, and we'd rather our own kids not feel stressed about learning that vital mathematical concept.

These games, hopefully, will give your kids a chance to think and strategize about multiplication in a way that helps them build true fluency, not just speed. And I've included a couple of non-multiplication games that are also great for 3rd graders to play.

You can always check out my recommendations for earlier ages at these links:

• Pre-School

• Kindergarten

• First Grade

• Second Grade

Now, on to 3rd grade!

My oldest is in 2nd grade now, and after years of play-testing games with me, he has pretty high standards for new games. So I can say this with full confidence: He loves all these games, and I expect your kids will, too!

I've been working my way through all my old recommendations to find the best games for any age, so you can check out my previous editions of this newsletter at the links below.

• Pre-School

• Kindergarten

• First Grade

So let's check out these 2nd grade games!

After 3+ years of writing newsletters, sometimes I find myself at a loss.

I pace around my house, complaining out loud about how I can't possibly find any more cool math stuff, I've written about everything already, time to pack it in and start my Philadelphia 76ers fanblog.

And then I pass my bookshelf, where I see a book I've had for a half-decade and somehow managed not to write about yet.

How does this happen??

Anyway, I am extremely excited to share with you one of my longstanding favorite resources, both as a teacher and as a parent of a very artistic daughter.

It's called This is Not a Math Book.

I have a (not so) secret: at least half the games I recommend, I found out about on Twitter.

I've used Twitter as a way to learn about math, teaching, and games for almost a decade now, and it's still my favorite place to get new ideas for math games, fun puzzles, and great classroom activities.

Yes, Twitter is an awful website that is probably bad for our society, but my little section over here with the games is really fun.

Today's recommendation came to me from Heidi Fessenden, who is a math coach and teacher in Massachusetts. Heidi has shared a ton of fun stuff with me over the years, so when she told me about this game I ordered it immediately.

The game is called The Genius Square.

I have TWO awesome announcements to make this week!

First of all, my friend Kyle DeBoer has started a fantastic Instagram account, @ofmathandmeeples. I am already really impressed with the way he is using the account to share math games ideas - definitely give him a follow.

I also have a great card game for parents and teachers that my kids have really been enjoying. I like the game because it scales up to a group of any size, and older kids can find more inventive solutions as their mathematical sophistication grows.

It's called Proof!

Little kids love playing with calculators.

My toddler Dalia, for example, loves nothing more than grabbing my calculators, along with anything else with buttons, and mashing them to see what happens. Adorably, she refers to her collection of button-based toys as "my growmups," as in "Daddy, these is my growmups"

My older kids like plying with them too, though. My eight-year-old is always trying to figure out what each button does, while my five-year-old tries to type in massive numbers and then say them out loud, proudly and incorrectly.

I was reminded of this by Michael Pershan, who gave me two great recommendations: First, get a big calculator with fun buttons and keep it in the car. You never know what discoveries your kids might make on the way to school!

Secondly, grab a laptop and get them to play Bad Calculators.

Have I told you about my awesome colleague Tami? She and I teach the math courses at UAB for future elementary educators. And, unlike me, she actually has years of firsthand experience teaching young children all about math.

In fact, Tami is the inspiration behind this entire newsletter. Way back in 2016 I was talking to her about finding opportunities for parents and kids to talk about math at home and she said “Yeah, but parents don’t really know how to ask good math questions. That’s why I always used to send math games home for homework. Kids love games, and parents can pick up on the rules quickly. Then the math just sort of happens.”

And an idea was born…

Last winter, Tami lent me a game that she used to use in her 1st grade classroom and then March happened and, well, I still have it. I think it’s one of the simplest, most fun early math games I’ve played - and if you don’t have the board, you can play for free with a few dice and some paper!

The game is called Knock-Out.

I'm always on the hunt for games that teach kids about the other areas of math aside from arithmetic. I can name two dozen games offhand that help kids with addition, subtraction, and multiplication, but some of the other areas of math, such as measurement, don't come up explicitly in games quite as often.

That's not to say that kids never measure in games: They do it all the time! But sometimes you want a game that helps kids think about measuring more explicitly.

Fortunately, my math teacher friend Kyle DeBoer has invented a fantastic measurement game. I took the game into my other math teacher friend, Rebecca Smith's 4th grade classroom at my son's school, and I can tell you that kids love this game!

It's called Battle Lines.