Three Fantastic Multiplication Games

I've heard from a bunch of you, and one consistent theme is that parents want games that help kids practice multiplying, addition/subtraction, and fractions. 

Message received! I'm working on the other two categories, but I'm ready to go with three fantastic recommendations for multiplication games.

One thing to note: I firmly believe that a game is most fun when it doesn't feel like math class. I don't want to play a game that feels like a worksheet, and neither do your kids. So if I recommend a game, it's because I firmly believe is a great activity that just happens to use math as a gateway to the fun. And these three recommendations, particularly the last one, totally fit that bill.

How Close to 100?

How Close to 100? is a game I got from Jo Boaler's site, YouCubed, which has a TON of great activities for kids of all ages. 

All you need is a pair of dice and a game board, which you can find here. To play, you roll the dice and then draw a rectangle with those dimensions somewhere on your sheet. So if you roll a 3 and a 4, you must draw and color in a 3x4 rectangle somewhere on your sheet.

The goal of the game is to get as close to filling all 100 squares in the grid as possible. If you roll a rectangle that you can't draw, you're done. I have a fuller description of the rules at my website.

By the way, this game can be played by kids who don't even know multiplication yet! Since they're just drawing rectangles, they can count by hand and figure out the area of each rectangle the long way. This might be a fun way to preview multiplication for a 1st or 2nd grader.

For older, more confident students, there is a more strategic variation that I call Fill the Grid: Now you have a 15x15 grid and three dice. You roll all three dice, then choose two to add together. Then draw a rectangle that matches your dimensions. So if you roll a 1, a 3 and a 6, you could draw a 4x6 rectangle, a 3x7 rectangle, or a 1x9 rectangle. The strategic implications are awesome! Find a worksheet for that variation at this link.

The Product Game

The Product Game is a classic, and as a result you can find print-and-play copies, as well as online applets, to try it out!

Essentially, you are playing Connect 4, but you use multiplication to capture squares. I wrote up a full explanation on my site a while back, which you can read here.

The challenge of the game is that each product comes from two factors: 21 comes from 7*3, 18 comes from 9*2 or 6*3. But on your turn, you can only change a single factor, which limits your possible moves. As you'll find, the game is more strategic than you might expect!

I've also shared a quick video that I found helpful:

MULTI

Ok, I saved the best for last. If you have been on this mailing list for a while, you'll remember when I shared the Kickstarter for the game MULTI. Well, it got funded!

The board game itself is still a ways off, but Federico, its creator, just slashed the price for the print-and-play edition to $5. You can order the PDF, with full instructions, here.

Essentially, MULTI is a gigantic game of tic-tac-toe, sort of like Ultimate Tic Tac Toe (another awesome free game). The goal is to win three small tic-tac-toe games in a row, which means you've won the big game.

Just like in The Product Game, you capture spaces by picking factors. But this time, when you choose 4x6, you get every single 24 on the board. 

I can't tell you how much fun I've had playing this game. Every single math teacher I've played it with has been blown away, and kids LOVE it. 

This game, more than any other that I've played, gets kids thinking strategically with multiplication facts. As the game progresses, you have to play simultaneous offense and defense, capturing and blocking all sorts of spaces. As a result, you might run through ten or twelve math facts in your head each turn while you hunt down the best move.

So if you're interested in giving Federico some support, check out MULTI!

And please, as always, send me feedback on any of these games that you particularly loved (or hated). I am stuck at home too, and I would love to know what is resonating with folks out there!