Adding Games

Adding games are a fun way to learn addition facts.  They're interactive, they get you thinking in new, creative ways, and let's face it, worksheets and flashcards get old after awhile.

Games are perfect for getting children to practice adding without them realizing they're studying.

I'm going to highlight a few different games that are available from my affiliates as well as provide some links to printable games that I've created.

Fun Adding Games

This first game I want to cover is Tootle Turtle from Melissa and Doug.  It's your basic bean-bag game but with the numbers added to the board, you can turn this into a fun adding activity.

Take turns throwing the bean bags at the turtle and then add up your scores.  In the photo above, the green player would have to add 4 + 2 to get a score of 6.  Red would add 4 and 1 for a score of 5.

You could play til somebody wins three rounds or until a player reaches a total score of 20.  It's all up to you and your creativity.

Sum Swamp is an adding and subtracting game for 2-4 players. Your child will have to move his swamp critter through the board while trying to avoid the crocodiles and the endless loop!

She'll do this by rolling two number dice and another die with the addition and subtraction sign on it.  Solve the problem and then move that many places.

On the product page you can learn more about the game including core standards that are covered in this game.

The Sunburst Key Skills Addition Practice is an interactive computer program that uses an assessment tool to monitor the progress of your students as they work on their adding skills through five different activities.

The software covers single-digit addition facts, place value, decimals, carrying-over, and large 2 to 4-digit operands.  I've created many worksheets covering these topics, so be sure to check those out too when you're done.

Find Your Games

Here you can learn more about the games I discussed above or check out some of the other games available.  You'll find books full of copy and print 'board' games and card games that use adding.

Use the gray arrows to browse.

You can also use some of these printable games and worksheets I created to work on your child's adding skills.

Number Island was one of my son's favorite games when he first started learning to group numbers together.  He's more into Playstation now, but at least he learned something. 

There are a few Number Island game boards that you can print out to teach your child how to group numbers together to add up to ten.