Supercharge your homeschool math curriculum with fun and games that can also be serious math lessons and practice. Transform one or two classic games and you’ll very quickly find that you and your children have become experts at adapting and playing more and more games. And seeing math skills and scores climb is of course a wonderful added benefit to your homeschool math curriculum. Here are a few ideas to start with. Have fun playing and creating new games!

Homeschool Math Relay Races:

First Grade: Number Recognition / Second Grade and Up: Times Tables Practice

Here are a couple versions of the classic relay race. These should be played on a large, open, preferably grassy field. You’ll need to designate a starting line, a finish line, and will need to make up number cards for the racers to collect. Divide the players into an equal number of teams, with two or more runners per team, separating the team line-ups by at least 15 feet.

1. Wheelbarrow Race

This is a partner race. The "wheelbarrow" partner gets down on hands and knees at the starting line. The "driver" picks up the legs of the wheelbarrow and at a signal they both move together toward the finish line with the wheelbarrow moving his or her hands as fast as possible. Here are the math variations: for first grade, scatter 3x5 number cards from 1-20 (or however far you’ve gotten with counting) in the paths of each of the teams. For second grade and up, scatter 3x5 cards with the numbers of a times table in the paths of each of the teams. Have the wheelbarrow wear a wide red sash in which s/he will stash as many numbers as s/he can pick up along the way. The partners then place the number cards face up and in order on the ground at the finish line, and the last pair must finish arranging them in the correct order. First team to finish and correctly order the cards wins. Or the teams can go for another round, by going to the end of the line and switching driver and wheelbarrow roles for their second turns.

2. Number Race

Divide the players into equal teams and place piles of number cards at the start line (see above for grade-appropriate numbers). Have each player pick up three (or more) number cards, race to the finish line, and place them on the ground face up, in order, and race back to the end of the line. Play continues with each player picking up cards, racing to the finish line and placing them on the ground in the correct order. First team to finish and correctly order all the cards wins.

Homeschool Math Spiderweb Weave:

First Grade: Number Recognition / Second Grade and Up: Times Tables Practice

Play this indoors, in a room with lots of places to weave the web. Cut as many pieces of yarn or string as there are players, 20 to 30 feet long. Different colors will make a colorful web, but using only one color makes it a much more challenging game.

1. As preparation beforehand, have the children write large numbers on 3x5 blank index cards, vertically, one number per card. For first graders, use the numbers 1–12 (or higher). For second grade on, use times tables numbers, one on each card, for a total of 12 cards. You can move on to the higher tables as they are learned. Use a paper punch to make holes in the center top of each card. Have the children help thread one set of cards onto each string, in order, spacing them 2-3 feet apart. Then secure the cards by tying them in place with small pieces of yarn or string.

2. Attach a nametag for each child to one end of each of the strings, and a small treat to the other end. Later that day, or on another day as a surprise, weave the web without the children present, by looping it loosely around the room, around table legs, through chair backs, and around the other strings, until the entire room is a colorful snarl.

3. After all of the children have arrived, have them search for their nametags. When everyone has located his or her name, they may begin untangling the web.

4. The winner is the first one to untangle his or her string and display and recite their sequence of numbers or times table in the correct order. And with the treats at the end of each string, everyone’s a home school math winner!