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Are you a parent who is suddenly homeschooling? A parent who has always homeschooled? A teacher looking for additional online resources to recommend to parents and students? Then be sure to check out the FREE online math games for students offered by Calculators.org. These math based games are offered in a wide range of difficulty and allow children to play and learn at the same time.
Free Online Math Games from Calculators.org
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Calculators.org. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
When I was in school math was never my strongest subject. I always had a hard time applying the lessons the teachers were going over in class to my homework only a few hours later. I believe if I had been given games to play that were math based it may have helped me in my learning greatly.
I remember having a lot of fun in my computer class in middle school, after learning about computers and different processes we would often get free time to play games. These games we played were usually learning games that either tested how fast we could type or spelling games where we would have to click on scrambled letters to make a word. These were fun and certainly taught us important skills but I do not have any recollection of ever playing games that were based in math. This seems like a giant miss to me. Perhaps if I had fun math games available, I would have had a better understanding of the subject not only then, but also today.
That's why I was so excited when I saw the games offered over at Calculators.org !
These games make perfect supplements for students who are currently being homeschooled and make a great recommendation for teachers to give to parents who are looking for more ways to apply lessons at home. What Types of Games are Offered?
Each math game is rated with a difficulty level from 1 star (the easiest) to 10 stars (the hardest). As you scroll, you'll notice the games are not sorted by difficulty, but rather by category.
Categories include: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division Addition Numerical Basics (Complete the sequence, find the highest number) Logic-Based (Sudoku) Once inside the category the games are still not sorted by difficulty. For me, I would have liked very much to have the games sorted by difficultly level once in a respective category just for organizational purposes. To offset the lack of organization, each game has a written description and a screen grab of what the game looks like, on top of their difficultly level which is very helpful in choosing a game to play. It is important to note that this game page offers more than just math games. Keep scrolling to find puzzles, coloring games, Physics games, word games and many more! Which Games Are My Favorite?
I would never talk about a site for games if I didn't play a few myself! I actually had forgotten how much fun it was to play a game on a computer. Playing these math games brought out the competitor in me, even though they are only 1 player games.
Here are a few of my favorite games: Math 4 Kids
What I found really interesting about this game is the problems are written out from left to right, even the division problems. This was a nice visual for addition however it proved more difficult when I tried my hand at some division. To play, you are given a problem and the numbers 0-9 below and you click on each number as you need it to "write" the answer on the board.
Objective: You first select from addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. Then you select Units, tens, hundreds, or thousands. Finally you answer problems in your selected category as a clock ticks down. Math 4 Kids is rated a 2 for difficulty but this can very quickly become a difficult game if one chooses to answer division problems by the thousands. Math Pop
For this game you are a given a number to reach by adding as many (or as few) numbers you need.
The objective: Add numbers together by "popping" the corresponding balloons to reach your given number. To make it a bit trickier, you are only allowed a certain number of "moves" to reach each given number. This was a lot of fun to play. The balloons you are trying to pop fly through your screen quickly, blink and you'll miss that 2 you were looking for, they fly by! On top of that, it is timed. With each number you reach the clock restarts, however you allotted moves do not. Math Pop is rated 3 for difficulty.
Related: Sony Pictures Launches Kids Zones
Number Maze
Like Minesweeper but it makes sense.
The objective: The blue block remains stationary and you must subtract from your given number in a green block to reach it without going negative. Each "step" you take subtracts that block's number from your given number so you need to move wisely! This game is not timed and you can redo a board if you find you've made a wrong move and/or you're out of moves. Number Maze is rated 4 for difficulty. I can understand why, this certainly takes some strategy to plan out moves and connect the two blocks without going negative or running out of moves before you can get there. Grocery Cashier
Talk about teaching a life skill! Making change is so important and this game is all about what happens when you buy something at the store.
In Grocery Cashier, you are the cashier and the clock is ticking down. This game is fun but nerve wracking due to the counting down on of the clock. The objective: As the cashier you need to make sure you've add up the groceries correctly and present the correct amount of change (all against the clock). Grocery Cashier is rated 4 for difficulty. I think this game might deserve a higher rating only because of the added stress that comes with needing to think about how much change is required and maneuvering the mouse to the correct amounts while the bar on the bottom of the screen is racing across as a countdown. Math Balls
This game is very much like a bubble pop/bubble shooter game. It is timed, your objective is to clear the screen but the longer you take, the more balls get added to your screen.
The objective: You are given a number and you must click on the appropriate numbered balls to add up to your given number. As you are trying to figure out which numbers you need to reach your given number, more balls are being added on top, as you reach your given number those balls leave your screen however if you take too long to add, eventually your screen fills up and all of the balls fall out (causing you to lose). Math Balls is rated 6 for difficulty. In my opinion this game is more like Math Pop which had a 3 rating. I'm not entirely sure I agree with this being more difficult than Grocery Cashier as it is addition and not addition and making change against a clock. Overall Impression of the Math Games from Calculators.org
This is just a small sample of the free math games available. I wanted to try out a few games in ranging difficulties to see how they worked and if they were fun.
In terms of the content of this site, I think there is a wide range of games offered and they are fun, albeit it "old school" computer games. The graphics here are not a "video game" style. They certainly have a more "retro" (and when I say retro, I really only mean 90's) feel to them. What do I mean exactly? Most of these games are just shapes; balloons, boxes, no frills. The ones who have a bit more storyline to them are not like typical characters you'd see in a video game, for instance the customers in Grocery Cashier do not have mouths and they do not move freely, they simply slide on the screen from the left hand side and slide off of the screen on the right hand side. I personally think the simplicity in these games are what make them all the more fun. High definition graphics are cool but they do not necessarily get you on the edge of your seat, that ticking clock does. Seeing that bar run across the screen while trying to add, subtract or multiply, knowing the clock is ticking down is what gets your heart racing. It is what made me want to keep playing these games over and over again, even Number Maze, which isn't timed yet every time I ran out of moves before I could reach the blue box I just wanted to keep trying. This wanting to redo it over and over and over again until you get it right, is what makes a good game. With so many of us having our daily routines shaken up (our kids included) it is nice to find sites that are providing not just free resources but fun, educational resources.
If you have a child who likes math or a child who needs a bit of help, do check out Calculators.org I'm sure you'll find a game that is perfect for them!
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