Times table snap! (2 player)
Use a pack of cards. Ace =1; Jack = 11; Queen = 12; King = 13
To practice a particular times table, e.g. 7s turn over one card and race your partner to multiply your chosen number e.g. 7 by the number on the card. To practice all times tables, turn over the top two cards and race your partner to multiply them both together. The winning player keeps the cards as prizes and you go again. The player with the most cards at the end wins.
You could increase the difficulty by turning over three cards and multiplying all three together.
Flippy, floppy fingers (two players)
Both players shake their fingers, while picturing a secret number between 0 and 10 in their heads. At once they reveal their numbers. Race to multiply your numbers together. The trick is, if you already knew your number, you can get ready by reminding yourself of the numbers’ times table (multiples).
Ghostblasters (two players on one device)
Blast the ghosts who are multiples of the given number. Multiples means the numbers in the given numbers’ times table. E.g. 20 is a multiple of 2. Ipad link: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ghostblasters-for-ipad/id442380006?mt=8
Times tables questions. Pc link: http://www.primarygames.co.uk/gb3/resgmulti.html
Connect 4 common factors
This game needs areful mathematical thinking. Can you line up 4 numbers in a row that share the same factor? You know they have the same factor if they can all be divided by the same number without a remainder. http://www.transum.org/Software/Game/Connect4/
Times table beatbox (1 player, one device)
I just discovered this! It chants times tables to you, and you remix the backing track as they go!
https://www.nationwideeducation.co.uk/www/flash/bso/bso-flash/index.html
Shannon’s game (or spelling hangman) (1 player asks questions, + one or a team of contestants)
Tell the contestants what word they have to spell. They write down how they think it is spelled and then try and guess the first letter. If they are correct, write the letter down; if not, draw the first part of the hangman. Continue with the second letter of the word and you must get each letter in order before moving on to the next letter. If the contestant makes a mistake, they should re-write the word, guessing what the spelling is based on the most likely next possibility. It is this searching for alternative spelling patterns which teaches the spellings!
Make your own wordsearch
Follow the instructions to make your own printable wordsearch with all your spelling words. http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/WordSearchSetupForm.asp?campaign=flyout_teachers_puzzle_wordcross
Different ways to write your spellings- The idea is to draw your attention towards the patterns of letters and help you to find ways to remember.
Write your spellings…. forwards, backwards, forwards and down; in bubble writing; with the vowels coloured in blue.
Write them in the air with your finger.
Write an acrostic poem using your word.
Make a word pyramid:
p
py
pyr
pyra
pyram
pyrami
pyramid
Write the letters using dots and join the dots to make the word.
Free Rice (1 player- one device) (Expand your vocabulary and feed the hungry)
http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1391
This app is clever because it changes the difficulty to match your vocabulary level. It uses responsible advertising to donate rice to the hungry each time you click an answer. This will improve your speaking, reading and writing.
(There is a maths version too, but I don’t know it so well. Let me know how it goes!) http://freerice.com/#/multiplication-table/17493
This page will be updated as I find new ideas for games! Let me know any others you think should be up here. Note: Some online games need flash player to be enabled- try them on different browsers if you have any trouble!