THE POWER OF PLAY: RESOURCES

Lacey Rose
PSIII PROFESSIONAL INQUIRY PROJECT
 Math Games
Game Description
I Have, Who Has I Have, Who Has is a card like game that
can be played in pairs or as a large group.
Cards can be created or purchased for a
variety of math concepts. In the game
each player gets a card(s). The first card
read “I have the first card, who has _____”.
The blank will read according to the math
skill being taught for example, 12 ÷ 4. The
player with the card that reads 3 would go
next!
Damult Dice In Damult Dice players are given three dice.
All three dice are rolled, and the player
must create two numbers with the roll (ex. 1,
4 and 6 could be 14 & 6 or 46 and 1).
Depending on the skill being practiced
players then have to complete an
operation with the numbers (ex. multiple,
divide, add). This game could be modified
by using dice with more sides (10, 20, 30) to
increase the difficulty.
Fact Families In the Fact Families dice game players are
given 2 dice. Players roll the dice and must
create the fact family (multiplication and
division sentences) for the numbers rolled.
For example, if 5 and 3 were rolled the fact
family would be 3 x 5 = 15, 5 x 3 = 15, 15 ÷ 3
= 5 and 15 ÷ 5 = 3. This game could be
played with standard 6-sided dice or
10/20/30 sided dice to increase the
difficulty.
Horse Race Horse Race is played in partners. The object
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfrTcVFkAq8 of the game is to roll two dice that will have
the greatest sum and/or product. The player
with the greatest sum or product gets to put
their two dice into the “winner” tray, while
the lesser sum or product is “tossed”. Players
want to have the most dice in the winner
tray!
What’s my Number? What’s my Number is a game that is focuses
o on place value. The object of the game is
to roll to create the greatest number.
 Students roll a dice and play that number in
one of the place value positions (ex. ones,
hundreds, etc.). Once a number has been
played it cannot be moved. Once all the
places have been filled students compare
to see who has created the greatest
number.
Math Mazes Math mazes are a fun and engaging way to
assess students’ learning. A math maze can
be created to fit a number of mathematical
concepts. Students work to solve problems
and find their way to the finish!
Board Games The following board games are great for
working on a variety of math skills:
o Shut the Box
o Monopoly
o Trouble
o Sorry
o Snakes and Ladders
o Go Fish
o Uno & Skip Bo
o Golf + Other Card Games
o Battleship (coordinate grids)
o Shut the Box
To find more great math game using dice, dominoes, and cards check out Box Cars and
One-Eyed Jacks on their website or on YouTube.

Language Arts Games

Game Description
Board Games The following board games are a great way
to play with language arts:
o Scrabble
o Bananagrams
o Boggle
o Scattegories
o MadLibs (parts of speech)
Sight Word Stackers In sight word stackers students are given
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyX62ohi8k0 letter tiles and a word family (ex. -at family)
students work to stack their letter tiles to
create a variety of words!
To find more great literacy based games using letter tiles, check out Box Cars and One-
Eyed Jacks on their website or on YouTube.

Cross-Curricular Games
Game Description
Would You Rather Would You Rather can be played in a variety
of subjects and requires students to critically
think about class content. In Would You
Rather students are given two options (ex.
Would you rather share 12 cookies with 3
people or 10 cookies with 2 people?)
Students will have to explain their reasoning,
which provides a great formative assessment
opportunity for the teacher.
Trashketball Trashketball is a fun and high energy review
game. The game can be played individually
or in teams. Students will be asked review
questions. If they get a correct answer, they
earn +1 point, and the opportunity to shoot a
ball into the basket/bin. If a student makes
the shot, they earn a bonus point, if they do
not there is not penalty.
Musical Chairs Musical Chairs has many variations! Students
may play the game and the student without
the chair must answer a question, or students
must answer the question under their chair,
etc.
Kaboom! Kaboom is a game that can be played
during any subject. The game is played in
partners or in small groups. Students take
turns pulling popsicle sticks from a cup. On
the popsicle stick is either a question or the
word KABOOM. If students pull a question,
they answer the question – if they answer
correctly, they get to keep the stick, incorrect
they put the stick back. If a student pulls
KABOOM all their sticks go back in the cup.
The objective is to collect the most popsicle
sticks!
Jenga Jenga is played much like the standard
version of the game, expect each block has
 a question written on it. Students answer the
question and place the block back on top!
Scavenger Hunts Scavenger hunts are a great playful way for
students to research and read texts.
Scavenger hunts can be used in any subject
and across many grade levels.
Pictionary & Pictionary Charades and Pictionary are an “active”
way for students to demonstrate their
learning. The games could be used for
students to review vocabulary, events, etc.
Hangman Hangman can be used in any subject to
teach vocabulary. Students take turns
picking letters to try and spell the vocabulary
words.
Bingo Bingo can be used across many subjects and
grade levels. Bingo sheets can easily be
created by the teacher or bought relatively
inexpensively online.
iSpy & Guess Who iSpy are great for teaching students about
properties, descriptive words, and/or
character traits. The classic games can be
modified to fit classroom content across
many grade levels.

Online Resources
Game Description
Factile Factile is a Jeopardy-like website!
o https://www.playfactile.com/ Teachers can create their own
gameboards to fit whatever subject
they are teaching. Students can play in
teams or individually. The free version of
the website restricts access to some
features such as the number of games
you can create monthly, the number of
teams who can participate in a game
etc. By upgrading you get unlimited
access to all the sites features.
Boddle Learning Boddle Learning is a free online resource
o https://www.boddlelearning.com/ for K-6 math! Students are able to design
their own character and move
throughout the Boddle World while
practicing math skills.
Prodigy Math Prodigy is another free online math
o https://www.prodigygame.com/main- resource. Students pick a character and
en/ move throughout the Prodigy word
while practicing math skills.
Dreamscape Dreamscape is a free gamified reading
o https://www.playdreamscape.com/ program for grades 2-8. Students must
defend their Dreamscape realm by
reading passages and answering
comprehension questions.
ABCYa! ABCYa is an online website that is home
o https://www.abcya.com/ to a variety of numeracy and literacy
games for K-6 students. The free version
of the website does have some
restrictions (though is still very functional).
Math Playground Math Playground is home to a variety of
o https://www.mathplayground.com/math- free math games for Grade 1-6 students!
games.html
FunBrain FunBrain is a free website which hosts a
o https://www.funbrain.com/ variety of math and literacy games, as
well as a virtual library! FunBrain has
content for students K-Gr. 8.
Kahoot! Kahoot! Is a free online game-based
o https://kahoot.com/ quiz platform. Students sign-in through a
device (phone, tablet or computer).
Students work to answer questions and
earn points to be at the top of the
leaderboard.
GimKit GimKit is a free online game-based quiz
o https://www.gimkit.com/ platform. GimKit has 10+ game options
to keep students engaged.
Blooket Blooket is an online classroom review
o https://www.blooket.com/ game. Blooket has pre-made question
sets, as well as provides the option to
create your own question sets. There are
multiple game options to help keep
students engaged.