Place Value Necklace

Write down numbers and toss them in a paper brown lunch bag. Have students pull a number out (no peeking!). Next, they create a necklace to represent their number using Froot Loops Cereal and Pasta. Tell kids to keep their number a secret! Once everyone has their necklace constructed, instead of reading the room, they read each other! Give each student a list with their classmates' names on. Next to the names make a line for kids to write down their peers' numbers.

When kids are finished, have them find the largest and smallest number. Then, have them draw a red checkmark next to the even numbers and a blue checkmark next to the odd numbers. (Example left)

Number Guess Who and Battleship

Number Guess Who - 2 player game: Kids choose a number off of a hundred chart. Then, they take turns asking each other clues to figure out their opponent's number. 

Clue Examples: 
Is it 10 more than _____, 10 less than _____, 1 more than _____, 1 less than _____?
Is the sum of its numbers _____?
Does it have a number in the hundreds place (tens place or ones place)?
Is it even or odd?
Is it half of _____?

Kids cross out numbers on their board, as they get closer to figuring out their opponent's number. The first one to figure out the other player's mystery number wins! (Flash card featured is from Mr. Printables - click here to download a free set!)

Number Battleship - Like Number Guess Who, but kids choose 10 numbers. Each player needs 2 hundred charts (one with his numbers covered and one to mark off his hits and misses). When a player guesses a correct number, his opponent gives him the token that was covering the number. The first player to collect all of his opponent's tokens first (and clear the opponent's board) wins!

Odd vs. Even

Switch up rock, paper, scissors to help kids with math! Two player game, one person is "odds" and the other is "evens." Kids shake their fist, chant "1,2,3, shoot!" Then, they stick out zero, one, two, three, four, or five fingers. Kids find the sum of their fingers. If the answer is even, then evens gets a point. If it's odd, odds gets a point.

Note: Remind kids that even if they are an even, they can still hold out an odd number of fingers. The answer to the problem is what they consider odd or even.

inspired by disney family fun -  odds, evens 

Number Police

Fun number game from Ellie's Active Maths for a math station! You will need 2 groups of kids and cards labeled 1-100. One group of kids plays the role of the police squad. The other group plays police informants. The numbered cards are the suspects. The police line their numbers up on the floor in order, like a traditional suspect lineup. The police informants choose one number card, write the number down (don't show the cops!), and write clues about it. Clue examples: The suspect is an even number, it has 5 tens, the number is ten more than 48, the sum of its digits is 13, etc. They read their clues to the police. The police record the clues on a scrap of paper. Afterwards, the police hold a private meeting where they eliminate suspects by flipping the cards over. Will they solve the mystery? What number is the prime suspect?

Badge via csp

Ten Frame Game

Roll a die and play the ten frame game!

Math Quest

Have fun with math around the classroom by throwing a Math Scavenger Hunt! The Go to Teacher has  a super fun even / odd scavenger hunt, which includes a whole printable unit on even and odd numbers! Kids split up into two groups, the evens and the odds, and hunt for numbers on post it notes. Then, they search through books, finding even and odd pages and words with an even or odd number of letters!


You can also take your math skills outdoors. Kids use their problem solving skills by adding and subtracting objects, skip counting, comparing things using less than or greater than, and distinguishing even and odd numbers around the classroom and outside on the playground. Smart First Graders has a free printable that incorporates math with living and nonliving things.


Minds in Bloom has a scavenger hunt for upper elementary that deals with angles, circumference, measuring, money, time, and division.