Mental Math Mental math resources aren’t always easy to find. That’s where this bundle is ready to help (here’s the TPT link). This collection of 25 games and activities is perfect for helping students break […]
One of the interesting ways you can get your elementary students to work with mental math is to use visual patterns. For example, if you take all the face cards out of a set of playing cards, you’ll have the number cards remaining. Take a couple of these decks and cover up the numbers and the small designation of the suit. What you’ll have left is just the number pattern on the card. You can then use these cards as flash cards to get students to use their mental math muscles.
Bring in a huge jar of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Have the students work at one large table or break them up in groups with four participants in each group. Each student in a group will be in charge of one of the types of coins.
The goal is to have the students come up with different groupings of these coins to add up to 25¢.
As adults we forget that just quickly finding the answer for 10 more or 10 less than a specific number can be a feat of mental gymnastics for children. For your first or second grade class this is a great way to get their mental juices going.
Tell the students to put away all books, electronic devices, calculators, pens or pencils. For this activity you want them to use the best calculators they have…their minds!….This activity is also a great springboard for having students think about salaries in different countries or for different types of work.
Here’s a fun game that you can play with the students in your classroom to get their mental juices going! Begin with a simple whole number like 5. Then start giving the students operations that they should perform in their heads. Use a variety of all four operations and make sure the directions you give will yield whole numbers.