The Best Games, Puzzles, and More to Help Kids Learn Math
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Photo: Maggie Yolen
When I was growing up, there were math kids. Most were boys. I was, decidedly, not one of them. This was a line frequently repeated by my parents ("We're just not math people!") and that was that. It was a fate I readily accepted, perhaps with relief.
Now we know better. There aren't math people — there are people who have greater exposure to math concepts from a young age, who have families that prioritize (and enjoy) math learning. And research shows that this early knowledge compounds.
Environment and instruction matter, including whether families regularly weave number talk into conversation and expose kids to math games . I once asked a friend how her kids got so good at math, and she said she and her partner regularly ask them questions to get them thinking about numbers, like "Which do you think is bigger: the number of days until your birthday or the number of days since school started? How could we find out?" Rather than formal teaching or flash-card drills, the best at-home approach is finding natural ways to build number sense and curiosity into daily life.
Over the past few years, as I've tried to bolster my own children's confidence and skill in math, I've spoken with math-loving friends, math teachers, and mathematicians to find the best games, tools, and resources for supporting math learning at home, from early childhood through elementary school. It may not come naturally to all, but there are many fun games, tools, and puzzles that can help you become the math parent you were always meant to be.
The best games for building math skills
Mathcentric games for ages 3 and up
Math for Love 'Tiny Polka Dot'
I often play Tiny Polka Dot with my own children, 4 and 7 years old, as well as my students. The game comes with colorful cards that display six number representations in six colors to help young children recognize numbers in multiple ways. Flexible thinking is an important predictor of future math success , and I like how Tiny Polka Dot encourages just that through the varied numerical representations. It was created by mathematician husband-and-wife team Dan Finkel and Katherine Cook through their company Math for Love , which is an excellent online resource.
Photo: Maggie Yolen
Blue Orange 'Happy Bunny'
This cooperative game for preschool-age children comes recommended by Finkel himself to teach early counting skills. Players help the bunny pick the best carrots to bring home to their family, plucking them from the box just like you would from the ground.
Peaceable Kingdom 'Count Your Chickens!'
Peaceable Kingdom also makes great cooperative board games, including Count Your Chickens! , in which everyone works together to get the chicks home to their mama hen through basic counting tasks.
Peaceable Kingdom 'Snug As a Bug in a Rug!'
Another Peaceable Kingdom cooperative game that's great for preschool-age children because it teaches number recognition, shapes, and colors.
Peaceable Kingdom 'Math Sandwich'
Yet another fun Peaceable Kingdom game for preschoolers.
'Tenzi' Party Dice Game
Tenzi is a fast-paced, simple-to-play dice game that builds rapid number recognition and the ability to subitize — a foundational math skill that refers to instantly recognizing the number of objects in a group without counting one by one.
Mathcentric games for ages 5 and up
Maiji Planet 'Shut the Box'
Shut the Box is a lot of math practice — it covers decomposing numbers, addition fluency, probability, and strategy — combined with family fun.
Tang Math Games 'Kakooma Plus'
Developed by math author and educator Greg Tang, Kakooma is a great game for building fact fluency. When I was a teacher at an elementary school in Los Angeles, I traveled to a math conference led by Tang, and the teacher enthusiasm for him at a Ramada in Seattle was akin to fans seeing Taylor Swift at MetLife. In other words, his products have a solid stamp of teacher approval.
eeBoo 'Time Telling Game'
Time Telling Game has several jolly clocks and cards that prompt players to show the time described. It's especially good for connecting analog and digital time and for phrases like "half past" and "quarter to."
Photo: Maggie Yolen
Asmodee 'Magical Athlete'
Another recommendation from Finkel, Magical Athlete is heavy on the fun with some subtle counting practice.
Dominoes Set
Dominoes are quite an enduring game and one that's excellent for building math skills — every tile is like its own math puzzle. You only need a basic set, but they also come in so many colors and designs.
Melissa & Doug Dominoes
Printworks Junior Domino Set
Domino & Juliette Dominoes
Mathcentric games for ages 8 and up
Math for Love 'Prime Climb'
This is a must-have! Developed by Finkel and Cook, Prime Climb builds skill in multiplication, division, and prime numbers in a fast-paced, engaging game of strategy and luck.
'Qwixx'
Qwixx focuses on mental addition, probability, and strategic thinking about risk and reward.
'24 Game' - Single Digits
A fast-paced card game that builds mental math with all four operations.
MindWare 'Q-bitz' Solo
Q-bitz is a pattern-matching game that builds spatial reasoning, mental rotation, and pattern recognition to help strengthen children's geometry skills.
Hasbro 'Monopoly'
While we know it as a game of heartless real-estate deals, for children, it's great hands-on practice with cash: budgeting, saving up, and making change.
Regal Games Cribbage
In cribbage, there's a math problem in almost every turn: addition, counting by twos, pattern recognition, probability.
PlayMonster 'Set'
In Set , players look for three cards that either all have the same feature or all different ones, building logic and visual reasoning. There's also a waterproof edition if you think you might like to play poolside.
The best manipulative tools and toys for building math skills
Hand2Mind 20-Bead Wooden Rekenrek
My 7-year-old daughter regularly uses an abacus when she's doing her math homework. She benefits from the tactile element when completing addition and subtraction problems in particular.
Photo: Maggie Yolen
Think. Model. Learn. Hundred Grid Pop Fidget
A hundred grid is a ten-by-ten chart of the numbers 1 to 100. It helps give a visual to the structure of our number system, which can be a great aid when completing math procedures. This grid, in particular, has the added multisensory appeal of a pop fidget.
National School Products Dry-Erase Number Lines
A number line helps children see that numbers have order, and a dry-erasable number line allows them to visually solve addition or subtraction problems.
$10 at National School Products
Hand2Mind Rainbow Fraction Tower Cubes
Fractions can be challenging for children to wrap their head around. These fraction tiles help them visualize and see the relationships among fractional parts.
Learning Resources Magnetic Fruit Fractions
Junior Learning Food Fractions
eeBoo 'Make a Pie!' Fraction Game
Hand2Mind Place Value Frame With Base Ten Blocks
Place value is the foundation of our entire number system. Base-ten blocks make that system concrete. The blocks allow children to see — and hold — ones, tens, and hundreds. They're equally great for kids who are just learning place value (kindergarten or first grade) and for upper-elementary students learning decimals.
Didax Unifix Cubes
Unifix cubes are best known as a tool for children learning one-to-one correspondence skills, but they are also great for patternmaking, comparing, and measuring.
Melissa & Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards
While replicating images with these flat shapes, children learn about hexagons, trapezoids, rhombuses, and triangles by making patterns, counting sides and corners, and comparing angles.
Wooden Tangrams Set
Here's a mini-set of pattern blocks in a portable tin that's easy to travel with or take to restaurants to keep kids busy at the table without giving them your phone .
EAI Education Five and Ten Frame Cards - Pack of 2
A very basic but extremely helpful tool for building number sense in young children. Each grid has two rows with five boxes. With practice, children start to recognize quantities (subitizing) without counting one by one.
Hape Math Monster Scale
This monster balance scale is excellent for helping young children develop early number skills. Each monster has a number that corresponds to its weight, from lighter to heavier, so children can actually feel the difference between small and bigger numbers.
Learning Resources Pretend & Play Calculator Cash Register - Pink
A great way for young children to learn through play about money, counting, addition, and subtraction.
Carson Dellose Education Mini Judy Clocks
The classic Judy Clock is a great tool for helping kids learn how to tell time manually.
Educational Insights 'Kanoodle'
In Kanoodle , children rotate and flip pieces mentally to see how they fit, building spatial reasoning and problem-solving skills (which is especially helpful for geometry). It's also a really great item to have on hand when traveling.
The best puzzle books for building math skills
Puzzle books for ages 5 and up
'The Super Sudoku Book for Smart Kids,' by Zack Guido
Sudoku is not math, per se, but it builds logical reasoning, pattern recognition, and working memory, which are all helpful skills for young mathematicians.
Photo: Maggie Yolen
'The Grapes of Math,' by Greg Tang
Another banger from Tang with engaging illustrations and riddles to develop addition and multiplication strategies. Tang has written many of these types of books, including Math-terpieces , Math for All Seasons , and The Best of Times: Math Strategies That Multiply .
'Math-terpieces,' by Greg Tang
'Math for All Seasons,' by Greg Tang
'The Best of Times,' by Greg Tang
Puzzle books for ages 8 and up
Will Shortz Presents 'I Can KenKen!'
KenKen is similar to sudoku, but it combines addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with logical reasoning.
The Murdle Jr. series of puzzle books has dozens of mysteries for children to solve, complete with maps, mazes, and many head-scratching clues.
Murdle Jr. - 'Curious Crimes for Curious Minds'
Murdle Jr. - 'Ready, Set, Solve!'
Murdle Jr. - 'Wild Goose Case'
Rawlings Deluxe Scorebook
Math becomes much more meaningful when it's attached to something children already care about. This score book is a fun way to encourage your sports-loving child to think numbers.
'Mega Math Maze,' by Kjartan Poskitt
In this maze, children use multiplication to complete a quest.
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