Math Games

Place Value

Place Value War

This is a fun two player game that is perfect for centers.  It requires a deck of playing cards or UNO cards. If using a deck of playing cards, leave the Joker cards but remove the jacks, queens, kings, and aces.  If using UNO cards, leave the WILD cards, but remove the reverse, draw two, draw four, and skip cards.

How to Play:

1. Students turn over two cards from the deck if they are working with ones and tens, and three cards if doing ones, tens, and hundreds. Again, larger numbers work for older students as well.
2. Students lay the cards side by side in the order they draw them to make a two or three-digit number.  If they turn over a Joker or WILD card, it can stand for any number. The person with the largest number gets a point. The first student to reach a certain number of points is the winner.

To change it up a little, for one game you might tell students that the number with the largest value in the tens place is the winner of each round, or the number with the largest value in the ones place gets a point, etc.

Last Number Standing

(Whole Class Activity)

1. Have students stand at their desks and write a two-digit (if doing tens and ones) or three-digit number (if doing ones, tens, and hundreds) on a sheet of paper. It works with larger numbers for older students as well. 

2. Start calling out different place value amounts one at a time.  If a student has that amount in their number, they have to sit down.  For example, you might say, “If you have a 2 in the tens place, sit down” or “If you have a 4 in the ones place, sit down” and so on. You may choose to call on students who sit down to share their number aloud. 

3. Keep calling out different place value amounts until only one student is left standing.  Have them share their number with the entire class. That is the last number standing!