Making Math Fun: 7 Small-Group Math Activities and Lessons

Children have a natural inclination to learn through play and there is a growing body of research proving that “playful learning experiences lay the foundations for brain development and develops 21st century skills.” This extends far beyond playgrounds and recess. The National Institute for Play summarizes a large body of research showing how play promotes learning and improves well-being all the way through adulthood.

Small-group math activities can be the perfect opportunity to incorporate play into the math classroom, not only working towards successful learning outcomes, but ensuring that students have fun along the way!

Math small-group activities to make learning fun and engaging

Are you on the lookout for ways to make your small group activities in math more engaging? The activities in this article can be used to help students practice important mathematical skills through play. Several of these activities can be modified across a variety of skills spanning elementary school and some through high school.

Activity 1: Fast look (Grades 1–2)

Use this to practice: Subitizing

I used to use this with my second-grade students whenever we had 5 minutes to spare, but the activity can be used in a small group to help students develop skills with subitizing (assessing the number of items without counting). A rekenrek is a number rack with movable color counters along two rows. Typically, it has 20 counters: 10 on each row, divided into 5 of each color. You will need a physical rekenrek, a virtual rekenrek, or a slideshow with rekenrek images.

Before doing this activity, make sure to introduce the rekenrek to your students and ask them what they notice. Point out that there are 10 white counters and 10 red counters, with 5 of each on both rows.

How to play:

1. Move all of the counters to the left side.
2. Show students the rekenrek and review the total number of white and red counters.
3. Tell students they will need to figure out how many counters are on the right side, but that they will only have a few seconds to see. They will know that time is up when you make a noise, like “cha-ching!” Tip: Place a sticker on the side where you want your students to look.
4. Move some counters to the right side.
5. After a few seconds, say “cha-ching!” and move the counters back to the starting position. Tip: When you first start playing, let them see it for longer.
6. Ask students how many counters were on the right side. Then have them explain how they thought about the numbers. 

The beauty of this activity is in the way the rekenrek organizes the colors. Students will begin to notice the number of white or red counters on either side and start combining and taking away numbers to figure out how many there are. They begin to create more efficient methods so that they can guess in less time.

Activity 2: The greatest (Grades 1–3)

Use this to practice: Numbers and operations in base 10

All that is needed for this activity are place-value charts and a way to generate random whole numbers between 0 and 9, like numbers cubes, number cards, or spinners. In this activity, students are playing to generate the greatest sum of two numbers to a certain place value.

How to play:

1. Set up the place value charts for an addition problem as shown above.
2. Player 1 selects a number (by rolling, drawing, or spinning).
3. Both players choose a place in their place value chart to write the number.
4. Now it’s Player 2’s turn to select a number, with both players again choosing a place in their charts to write the number.
5. Players continue taking turns selecting numbers and filling in the chart until all six digits of the addends are filled in. Note that students can place zeros anywhere, meaning it’s possible to create numbers like “045” or “009,” which are equal to 45 and 9.
6. The goal of the game is to have the largest sum.

This activity can be extended, for example by adding thousands or a third addend, or can be used with subtraction and multiplication as students advance.

Activity 3: Magic Calculator Cards (Grades 2 and up)

Use this to practice: Finding sums of 3 or more two-digit numbers

Everyone loves a good magic trick! You’ll have your students wondering how it could be possible that these Magic Calculator Cards work, and you get to explain that it all relies on properties and structures of numbers. Demonstrate this to your group first, and pretty soon they’ll be sharing the fun magic trick with friends and family.

How to do this trick:

1. Have your small group work together to choose a number between 1 and 31.
2. Have them give you the cards that have the number, one card at a time.
3. Secretly find the sum of the numbers in the top left corner to determine the secret number.

Go through a couple rounds of this to build excitement before letting them in on the trick. Then have them practice with each other.

Activity 4: Cards up (Grades 2 and up)

Use this to practice: Numbers and operations in base 10, with fractions; describing features of geometric figures

This engaging activity is a take on a popular party game where one player places a card (or phone) against their forehead so they cannot see it but everyone else can. The other players use actions and verbal clues to try and get the player to figure out what’s on the card.

Have students work in pairs using a deck of number cards. The type of number cards you use will depend on the skill(s) your students are practicing.

How to play:

1. Start with one player as the Guesser and the other as the Teller. The Guesser draws a card from the deck and places it on the table for everyone to view.
2. Next, the Guesser draws another card and places it on their forehead without looking at it.
3. The Teller states the product (or sum, etc.) of the two numbers as a clue.
4. The Guesser guesses the number on their forehead.
5. Players take turns being the Guesser and the Teller until they run out of cards.
6. You might also have them write down their equations after each turn. These can be used as an math exit ticket for informal assessment.

There are many variations of this game. Clues can be sums, differences, products, or quotients, though quotients and differences may require additional modifications. For example, when working with quotients, provide the dividend and only numbers that can evenly divide it. 

If you want to focus on number facts for a specific number, you can skip the first card draw and have them use a number that you write as a factor in each round. For geometry, students can use cards with two- or three-dimensional figures, with the other player describing their attributes. 

Activity 5: Which one doesn’t belong? (All grades)

Use this to practice: Mathematical reasoning, mathematical discourse, repeated reasoning

This is one of my favorite activities to use with heterogeneous small groups because it is a low-stakes activity with multiple entry points and it creates an opportunity for mathematical discourse. 

The magic of this activity is in the design: all the choices are correct! But students must examine the options and defend their answers by discussing the similarities and differences between the numbers or figures. 

In this example, it is possible to argue that each number has a reason not to belong:

• 3 is the only one-digit number or the only prime number.
• 33 is the only number with two numerals that are the same.
• 46 is the only even number or the only number without the numeral 3.
• 53 is the only number that is not divisible by 3.

Before you present the options, let students know that they will be required to justify their answers:

• What do you notice?
• How are the numbers similar or different?
• Which one doesn’t belong? Why?

The reasoning that students give can reveal a lot about how they are thinking about the underlying structure of these numbers and can get them communicating mathematically. This activity, which is described more on our article on math talk, can be modified to suit any grade level. When researching or constructing versions of this activity, be careful that all answers require some mathematical thinking to be plausibly correct. Talking Math with Your Kidss has many great resources for this activity.

Activity 6: Plan a trip (Grades 3 and up)

Use this to practice: Applying operations in base 10

This project-based learning activity can be used across several lessons to help students apply what they have learned to real-world applications. I’ve used this activity with fourth-grade students who were ready for more of a challenge adding decimals. We decided that we were going to plan a camping trip.

To start, I gave my students a budget and a list of items and prices that they could choose from. We discussed that we needed someplace to sleep, and what activities we wanted to do on our trip. Students then plan each aspect of our trip with the budget in mind. They work together and make concessions based on their preferences and the math.

Personalities really start to shine through in this activity. I noticed some of my students wanted to keep costs down, no matter how it affected the trip and everyone’s comfort. Others wanted to buy the most luxurious items and quickly went through their budget. They were all so engaged and explained their reasoning to each other without my prompting.

This activity can be adapted for many types of projects, such as planning a birthday party or opening a store. To modify this activity for middle school students, include taxes, mark-ups, and discounts in the price lists, or have them research the prices themselves.

Activity 7: Peer tutoring practice (Grades 3 and up)

Use this to practice: Building confidence, math vocabulary

This is an adaptable activity that helps students build confidence by becoming a tutor to their peers (under your guidance, of course). Students can partner up, with one student working to teach or practice a concept with a peer.

This article on math intervention strategies offers a division card sort activity for Grades 5 and up that can be used as a peer tutoring activity. Students sort multiplication and division facts across multiple representations. First, the tutor selects from the skill cards and have the tutee sort the cards. Once all of the cards are sorted, the tutee creates a rule to describe all of the cards in each group. The tutor then checks the work and looks out for misunderstandings. After this discussion, students switch roles.

• Student activity
• Teacher guide

This activity can be modified to help students make connections among representations within a single operation, or to compare inverse operations.

Get organized: Math small-group lesson plan templates

Use the following small-group lesson planning templates to organize your small-group activities. Start by using the skills checklist to list your students and the three skills that each student needs the most practice with. Then use the other templates to plan your groups, schedule them, and record notes.

• Student skills checklist
• Small-group planning template
• Small-group schedule template
• Small-group lesson notes

Remember, many of these activities can be used across multiple skills. To simplify your planning, consider introducing the same activity to multiple groups and adapting it for the specific skill needs of the group. In the template, you’ll also find a scheduling template and a page to add observational notes for each group.

Get started today

The great thing about many of these activities is that you can get started with them right away with minimal planning. If your students are working towards mastery in math facts, for example, grab a set of whole number cards (or have students make them) and you can start playing “Cards up” right away. Or if you need an enrichment activity for students who have mastered the content, get them applying their learning through the “Plan a trip” project. There’s something here for everyone!

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Find more small-group activities throughout HMH Into Math, our core math curriculum for Grades K–8 that puts students at the center.