Take-Home Math Games Unit 2
Please designate a special spot and/or container to place all math games that are
sent home. These are great activities to get the family together and also get math
concepts reinforced! If you should need any materials for these games please send
me a note and I would be happy to let you borrow it. Please feel free to adjust the
game to fit your child’s needs. Have fun!
Game Name: Coin Top-It (formally know as war)
Materials: Coin paper cards on Math Master pg 3 (students may color pennies
brown and nickels gray with color pencils or crayons)
Players: 2 or more
1. Evenly pass out cards to each player.
2. Each pile should have numbers facing down.
3. Both players say together: “1, 2, 3, FLIP!” Each player should then flip their
top card over.
4. Both players count coin amount on their card and share the amount with the
other player(s).
5. Player(s) than check other player’s coin amount.
6. Player with a higher coin amount collects both cards that were flipped.
Game Name: High Roller
Players: 2 or more
Materials: 2 dice
Players take turns. One player rolls 2 dice. The player keeps the die with the larger
number (the High Roller) and throws the other die again. The player then counts on
from the number rolled on the first die to get the sum of the two dice.
Game Name: Nickel/ Penny Grab
Players: 2 or more
Materials: 8 Nickels and 20 pennies
Partner A grabs a handful and Partner B takes what is left. Partners help each
other find the total value of their coins in order to see whose “grab” is worth
more. Use the Nickel/ Penny Grab Record Sheet or blank paper to keep track of
who grabbed more.
Game Name: Penny Cup Game
Players: 2
Materials: Cup, 10 Pennies (or more), Paper & Pencil
Players take turns. Player A turns the cup upside down, hides some of the pennies
under the cup. Player B counts the pennies on top and guesses how many are hidden
underneath. If the guess is correct, Player B gets a point. Players trade roles.
Players keep a tally of their points. The player who has more points at the end of 5
rounds wins the game.
Game Name: Two Fisted Penny Addition
Materials: 10 Pennies
Players: 1 or more
Game Name: Penny-Drop Addition
Players: 2 or more
Materials: 20 pennies and metal container
Player 1 takes pennies and drops them into a container. The other players
count as the pennies are dropped. The players announce how many pennies are in
the container. Player 1 keeps pennies in the container and adds more. Other player
then count how many pennies were added. Then they figure out the total of the
first amount of pennies plus new amount of pennies dropped. The person that
figures out the total amount of pennies in the container becomes Player 1.
Game Name: Penny Grab
Materials: 10 pennies for each partnership and scratch paper for each player
Number of Players: Two (2) or more
Partners combine their pennies. Each grabs a handful and then counts and
records the amount using both cents- and dollar-and-cents notation. For example,
13 pennies would be recorded as both 13¢ and $0.13.
Partners compare their amounts and then figure out and record how many more or
less (the difference). They then combine the amounts (counts) and record how
many in all (the sum). Partners repeat the penny grabs several times.
Game Name: Penny Guessing
Players: 2 or more
Materials: 20 + pennies
One partner grabs a handful of pennies and spreads them out on the desk.
Each partner then guesses how many nickels the partners can trade for the
pennies in the pile. Partners record their guesses on scratch paper or slates.
To check their guesses, partners work together to separate pennies in the
pile into groups of 5. They replace each group of 5 pennies with 1 nickel and then
count the nickels.
Partners play several times, taking turn grabbing a handful of pennies. The
goal is to improve their guesses.
Game Name: Rolling for 50 *See Math Journal pg 8
Game Name: Penny/Nickel Exchange Game
Materials: 20-40 pennies 10-20 nickels & 1 die
Players: 2 or more
1. Place all the pennies and nickels in the middle between all players.
2. Each player rolls die to see who will go first. Higher number goes first.
3. Each player should roll the die and take that number of pennies from the
penny pile.
4. In order to make an EXCHANGE a player needs to wait until their turn.
They need to EXCHANGE and put 5 pennies into the middle pile and take
1 nickel from the middle pile.
5. Game ends once no more EXCHANGES can be made.
6. If players would like to indicate a winner at the end of the game: flip a
penny prior to starting the game to see if winner will be one with more or
less nickels. Heads = more wins Tails = less wins.