As any veteran elementary school teacher will tell you, learning subtraction facts is not at the top of a child’s list of fun things to do after a relaxing summer. It takes Mary Poppins and her spoonful of sugar to get children to want to practice subtraction facts. Imaginative and creative teachers continually seek out ways to entice their students to practice math facts. Online subtraction math games and math board games that can be downloaded have entered the world of math and made it fun.
Online subtraction games use animation to entice children to do subtraction problems. Many of the math games for first and second graders are animated and extremely colorful. These animated math sites aim at improving children’s accuracy as well as speed. The Fish Subtraction Game on the softschools.com website shows a little boy fishing. The bait is the subtraction problem and the fish swimming by have answers. In order to successfully catch the fish, the child must click on the fish that has the correct answer. As soon as the fish is caught on the line, new bait shows up. (See resources for link).
Another type of online subtraction math game reveals a hidden picture as the student correctly answers subtraction problems. Hidden Picture is an online subtraction math game on the website aplusmath.com (See resources for link) that shows the students a grid with subtraction answers. The subtraction problem appears below the grid. Students must click on the correct answer on the grid. If students answer the subtraction problem correctly, the answer disappears and part of the missing picture becomes visible. Once the students have answered all the questions correctly, the entire picture becomes visible. The Hidden Picture online subtraction math game is appropriate for third and fourth graders.
Funbrain.com lets students practice subtraction by playing Tic Tac Toe. Subtraction problems appear in boxes on the Tic Tac Toe board. Students must answer problems correctly to place an X or O on the board. Students play against the computer during this math subtraction game. This online game involves some strategy. If the student wants to beat the computer, certain subtraction problems must be chosen even if the math problem isn’t very appealing to the child. Of course, there is a certain satisfaction in beating the computer.
If you are a teacher, Bingo is an excellent offline math subtraction game that you can play with your class on paper. At teach-nology.com, you can print out subtraction Bingo cards to give each student. The Bingo card has the subtraction math problems printed in each box. The teacher calls the answer. Students must figure out if one of the boxes on their Bingo card has the subtraction problem that matches the answer called out. You can play subtraction Bingo as part of a holiday celebration. For example, if it is Halloween, use candy corn or candy pumpkins as markers. Children enjoy playing Bingo and definitely enjoy eating the candy once the game is over.
Subtraction math games can also be played rolling two 12-sided dice. Students find the difference between the two numbers rolled, write the two numbers on paper and solve the problem. You can set up teams. The opposing team checks their opponents subtraction answer before they take their turn. Players get two points for each correct answer and lose one point if their opponent correctly challenges their answer.
You can also download subtraction math game boards. Game boards make math subtraction fun because a group of students can play together. The games Three Strikes And You’re Out and Free The Animals are two game boards at mathwire.com you can print out. In both games, students roll dice and find the difference. Their subtraction answers tell them where to place their markers on the game board. Mathwire.com provides detailed instructions on how to play.
Online math subtraction games and downloaded math board games can be played in the classroom or at home. In either place, the games make learning math subtraction facts just a little bit more fun. You might even be surprised to hear a child ask to practice math!
Resources:
http://www.softschools.com/math/games/fishing_sub.jsp
http://www.aplusmath.com/games/picture/SubPicture.html
http://www.mathwire.com/games/addsubgames.html
http://www.funbrain.com/cgi-bin/ttt.cgi?A1=s&A2;=1&A3;=0
http://www.teach-nology.com/gold/bingosub2.html
