Playing games on the multiplication table or the 100 chart is a great way to practice multiplication and division facts and more without the stress of memorization. It helps students find patterns and relations and learn how to use known facts as stepping stones. Even though we have shared a lot of games to practice the multiplication and division facts I believe that you can never have too many games especially for practicing multiplication facts. Playing more games equals more fun and more students engaged.
Today we are sharing a very simple and fast Halloween-themed game that will hopefully get students excited about practice. The game comes in print and google slides form. Check out the addition /subtraction version of the game here
Material (for the print version)
- 2 face 10 dice (if your dice has zero instead of 10 consider that 0 as a 10 or fix it with a marker. You can also use playing cards or UNO cards instead of dice.
- Pencils or whiteboard markers to mark the pictures on the cards. (laminate the cards to reuse)
How to play
The multiplication table is the game board. Each number hides a Halloween image. The players get a card each. The players take turns rolling the dice twice. They multiply their numbers with the help of the table and mark the picture of that number on their card. The winner is the first player to mark/get all 10 pictures on their card. If a player gets a number with a picture already marked they just wait for their next turn.
Challenge
For a more challenging game, you can use the 1-100 chart board instead of the multiplication table. The answers are not there so the students need to recall or mentally calculate the answer. It’s a good chance to talk about stepping stones, strategies, and more. When I use this board the students tend to help each other and explain how they get to the answer. They share their strategies and stepping stones like tlittle secret ricks.
More ideas
Another activity is “the secret number” Halloween edition. The teacher or a student selects a number and gives hints for the class or group to guess it. For example, “My number is a mummy and is a multiple of 9?
You can also ask students to write multiplication expressions for all the ghosts, or all the skeletons, or write one expression for each picture on their card.
I am sure you will come up with more ideas to use the board and the cards. Please share your ideas with us and we will pass them on.
Below is the print file that includes a small and a bigger board on two pages. You can attach the two pieces to create a bigger board.
Here is the link to the free google slides version that uses a spinner instead of dice.
Check out our brand-new resource Halloween Puzzles and Math Talks
Find more Halloween activities below.
