Math Center Activities Your Students Will Love!
Are you looking for some new math center ideas to use with your upper elementary students?
Here you will find 7 easy to use math center activities that are fun and engaging for students.
Math Games
I have found that upper elementary students love anything that is in a game format. They love the competition and the challenge! Using math games in your math centers is a great way to provide practice, low-risk competition, and the opportunity to strengthen social skills.
By using familiar game formats, students can focus on the math skills and playing the game and not have to worry so much about how to play the game. The games I like to use all combine skill and luck. Students use math skills to solve problems. Luck is incorporated into the game by adding “move forward __ spaces” or “move back __ spaces” spots on the game board. Luck is also incorporated into the question cards. The answer side of each card specifies how many spaces students move forward for a correct answer.
Learn more about my favorite math games by clicking HERE.
Matching Puzzles Center Activity
Matching puzzles are a great self-checking activity to use in your math centers. These can be done individually or with a partner. Matching puzzles can have 2, 3, or 4 pieces that students need to match together to make a set. Examples are matching the problem and solution, or matching different forms of numbers.
Students love matching puzzles because they are hands-on and visual.
You can provide an accountability piece by adding in an answer sheet for students to record their work on. In the activity pictured above I have combined letter and number codes to each piece, so students record which letter piece matches up with each numbered piece.
Technology Math Center
There are many websites and apps that can give students great math practice opportunities. Some of my favorite websites are IXL, Khan Academy, and Xtra Math.
I also love using Google Forms with my upper elementary students. They are fun for kids because they utilize technology and provide practice in a different format, making them a great alternative to worksheets. They can be as short or as long as you choose. I try to keep Google Forms to about 10 questions so students can complete them relatively quickly. Google Forms are self-checking, so that means less grading for you! They also provide a great overview of student progress!
Math Clips
My math clips activities are a great alternative to a traditional worksheet and are perfect math center activities! Students complete each of the 9 questions on the left side of the page, then clip the matching answer from the answer bank on the right side of the page and glue it in the question box.
Students receive immediate feedback because if they solve a problem and do not see their answer in the answer bank they know they made a mistake and can go back and check their work.
Math clips also give students a chance to use their fine motor skills, which upper elementary students still need experience with!
Want to try a FREE set of math clips with your students? CLICK HERE to grab a set of 4 math clips activities. There is one activity each for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Perfect for upper elementary practice!
Task Cards Math Center Activities
Task cards can be used in many different ways as a math center activity.
You can go the traditional route and post them up around the room for students to circulate and solve. This is a great way to get kids up and moving during math centers.
Pairing task cards up with a traditional game like Jenga, or any board game also makes a fun math center activity. Students need to solve each task card correctly to take their turn in the game.
You could also use them as a partner activity where students solve the problems together or use them to quiz each other. You could write the answers on the back of the task cards so one partner solves and the other checks the answer, switching roles with each new card.
Put the whole stack of task cards in the math center or break the deck up into smaller chunks to use over the course of a few days.
Math Facts Practice
My upper elementary students always need more practice with their math facts. Because of this, I try to have math facts practice as a rotating math center activity.
Math fact practice can be done in many ways like flashcards, rolling dice to generate numbers to add or multiply, drawing playing cards to generate numbers to work with, playing Shut the Box, technology, and more!
Math Challenges
Math challenges are a fun math center activity to have available for differentiation, math center choice activities, and fast finishers. Math puzzles, brainteasers, and open-ended math tasks are all great math center activities that will provide an extra challenge for your students.
One of my favorite types of open-ended math challenges are challenging word problems. Based on the work of Enrico Fermi, students try to solve seemingly impossible questions like “how many pieces of popcorn would it take to fill a grocery bag?” or “How many books would it take to fill the classroom?”. Kids love the novelty of the problems and the problems lead to a great exploration of strategies, math discussions, and perseverance with problem-solving!
Would you like to give open-ended math tasks a try in your math center activities?
CLICK HERE to grab a free set of challenging math problems and watch your kids get excited about solving challenging math problems!
I hope you gathered some new ideas for math center activities that you can use with your upper elementary students! If you are interested in learning more about any of the resources shared in this post, use the links below.
FREE Math Game – Multiplication with 1 Digit Numbers
FREE Math Clips- Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division
