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Hello, fellow gameschooler! Are you looking for gameschooling resources? Would you like to know the best math board games and card games for your homeschool and gameschool routine? Well, you’ve come to the right place, my gameschooling friends!

As a school psychologist and homeschool mom, I am a huge play advocate. I have witnessed, time and time again, the power of play and gameschooling.

Many homeschool parents know the value of play, but they have trouble squeezing it in amid all of the other nagging daily homeschool must-dos. And that’s why gameschooling is so valuable. Gameschooling is the intersection of play and homeschooling. It allows you to prioritize play but also make it “count” for those year-end Homeschool Powers-that-Be.

Today, I am sharing the absolute best math games for your homeschool. I’ve also included top picks from my expert panel of gameschoolers. From card games to board games and so much more, we’ve got you covered!

Table of Contents

Gameschooling: The Best Math Games for Your Homeschool

Psst! If you enjoy this post, please be sure to check out the landing page with gameschooling resources listed by academic subject. You can find it here:

Gameschooling by Subject: The Best Games for Your Homeschool

Before we get to math games, did you know about our course offerings?

How to add more play to your homeschool day or family routine via gameschooling… and remember that almost every board game on the market involves some math!

Gameschooling is one of my passions and I could blabber on and on about it all day long. If you are interested in learning more about adding more play to your family or homeschool routine via gameschooling, I have several fantastic resources to offer you.

Gameschooling 101: How to Add More Play to Your Homeschool Day

Do you want to add more fun to your homeschool day, but you’re worried about crossing off all of those homeschool “must-do” boxes? What if I told you that homeschooling could be *almost* all fun and games? Well, I believe it can!

Homeschooling shouldn’t feel super hard or complicated. You can cultivate a family culture of curiosity and joyful, lifelong learning. And it doesn’t need to look anything like the public school of your past.

If there was a simple, step-by-step method for adding more play to your homeschool day while checking off all of those academic must-do boxes, would you finally feel confident enough to ditch that public school mindset and make delight-driven learning and joyful curiosity a top priority in your homeschool?

Adding play can change the entire atmosphere of your homeschool and family routine. Learn how to add more play to your family routine and skyrocket learning and joyful curiosity in the process.

Join the fun today and have a happier tomorrow:

Gameschooling Course: Add More Play to Your Homeschool Day

Join our FREE Gameschool Community

If you’d like to learn more about play and gameschooling, but you aren’t quite ready to commit to the Gameschooling 101 course, I highly recommend joining our free Gameschool Community. It’s by far the most playful space on the internet!

The Gameschool Community is filled with over 30,000 homeschool families from around the world as they support each other in play and gameschooling. It’s such an amazing, supportive, and fun community to be a part of!

Join the MLP Gameschool Community:

Gameschool Community

Check out our Gameschool Resource Page, filled with even more math and logic game recommendations!

As a school psychologist and homeschool mom to three, I am a creative resource junkie! Would you like to check out our favorite gameschool resources by academic subject and category? If so, you’re going to want to bookmark these pages!

Introducing my expert gameschooling panel:

As a gameschool family, we play games daily. We consider games to be part of the curriculum and value the power of play. Today, I would like to introduce you to my expert gameschooling panel.

This expert gameschooling panel will be sharing their top picks for gameschooling math.

The 10-year-old’s favorite math game

This fella’s favorite math game is Prime Climb. This is a game that I recommend often because it can grow with your family. We have been playing it for years.

He said, “Prime Climb is probably the best math game. You have to really think about your strategy and use all of the operations. The board graphics are really cool, too.”

The 9-year-old’s favorite math game

My sweet girl’s favorite math game is Check the Fridge. We love this one! (You can check out our full review here.)

She said, “I like Check the Fridge because I like asking the other players for cards. The Stinky Cheese card is funny. If you like bluffing and card games, you might like this game!”

The 7-year-old’s favorite math game

This guy’s favorite math game is Countdown. This game has a special place in my gameschool heart because our neighbors gave it to us when I first started suddenly, unexpectedly homeschooling. It’s been played so many times!

He said, “I like Countdown because it has math and it’s pretty fun. I like rolling dice. If you love math, you would love this game.”

It’s been a few years and the expert gaming panel members have grown!

Where is the pause button, you guys?!

When first started suddenly, unexpectedly homeschooling, I had a 1st grader. That 1st grader is now halfway through 7th grade and I also have a 5th grader and a 4th grader. I mean, look how BIG they are:

Gameschooling Math: The Best Math Board and Card Games for Your Homeschool | My Little Poppies

My gameschoolers, holding the most 2020-appropriate game ever! Not a super ‘mathy’ game, but still a great one!

Before I dive into our favorite math games, a quick update for you…

If you are gameschooling littles, I want you to know that it is worth it. Sure, some days will be downright painful. There will be sibling squabbles, tantrums, board flipping, cheating, and tears. But keep your eye on the prize. You are building something important and it is 100% worth every never-ending game of Candyland. I’m sharing this because I’m on the other side. Our gameschooling isn’t perfect, we have plenty of ugly days, but we also have incredibly fun gaming days. Way more than we used to! So, keep on keepin’ on, my friends!

Math games in the younger years

We started off gameschooling math with Countdown! and Math Dice and Sum Swamp and all the Peaceable Kingdom games. My children learned to tell time with eeboo’s Telling Time Game. The kiddos learned early algebra with Balance Beans. One-player logic games were a quiet-time must. They learned coin value by playing Money Bags. They practiced all math facts with Prime Climb.

Math gameschooling right now

Nowadays, our math gameschooling looks a bit different. We still love Prime Climb, and Clumsy Thief, and Milles Bornes… but we play other, more advanced games that involve oodles of math. Catan and Dungeons and Dragons help them to learn probability. Blobby’s Pizza teaches fractions, decimals, and percentages. Star Realms has positive and negative numbers when scoring and lots of addition and subtraction. Five Crowns has heaps of math practice and is incredibly addicting. Antiquity Quest helps with place value and addition and subtraction of large numbers. And we are completely obsessed with Wingspan, which has lots of math when you score each round and total final scores.

And of course, we are still enthralled with one-player logic games, like Genius Star:

Really, when you get right down to it, almost every single game involves math if you’re willing to see it. Every single time you sit down to play with your kiddos you are reinforcing math skills. And you’re doing so in a fun, light-hearted, super stealth way. Whatever you do- do not tell them they are practicing math! What they don’t know won’t hurt ’em!

I’m about to share our favorite math gameschooling resources, but before we do that, would you like a free PDF of these Math Gameschool Resources?

Grab yours here:

Gameschooling Math: The best math games for homeschooling

Gameschooling math can be a homeschool game-changer! (See what I did there? Ha!)

Playing games offers your children a chance to practice and build skills in a no-pressure, non-judgmental way. If the game doesn’t go the way you wanted it to, you can start over and try again. There are no red pen marks, no critique, no homework.

Does your kiddo cry over his math workbook? Guess what? There’s a game for that, and I can guarantee you’ll have fewer power struggles when you swap out the workbook for the game board.

Here are a few of our family’s favorite math games for homeschooling, but keep reading because I’ll get into more specific math skills in a second:

Gameschooling specific math skills through educational board games

Are you looking to target more specific math skills? I’ve got you covered!

Color Identification Games

Color identification is another important early math skills. At this age, our family loved to play The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game. I also used the tiles from Qwirkle to “play” with colors with my kiddos. We just made up our own game using the tiles. Qwirkle is a game that your family will grow into, so if you want longevity on your game shelf, that’s another great option. Click the image for more recommendations.

Shape Identification Games

Shape recognition is an early math skill. Frankie’s Food Truck Fiasco is a great shape matching game that littles adore. At this age, each of my kiddos loved Mindware’s Imagination Patterns. It kept them busy for hours on end and because it was magnetic, we could take it places and not lose pieces! Click the image for more recommendations.

Number Identification Games

Do you want to work on those number identification skills? Tiny Polka Dot by the makers of Prime Climb is fantastic! Shelby’s Snack Shack Game is super cute. At this age, we also loved to use a wooden Montessori Hundred Board. Click the image to read more about these resources and more.

Pattern Recognition Games

If you’re looking to boost pattern recognition skills, Sophie’s Seashell Scramble is an adorable game. I also loved to use Tangrams. Sometimes we just used old buttons and made our own patterns together. The sky is the limit when it comes to play! Click the image to see more favorites!

Games that Teach Time

Learning to tell time can be challenging for some children, but gameschooling helps! At that stage, we loved eeBoo’s Telling Time Game. We also had this clock over our kitchen table and it helped to build those skills in a fun, low-stress way. Click the image for more recommendations.

Memory and Matching Games

Memory and matching are important early math skills. At this age, we loved the Life on Earth Memory Game by eeBoo. It’s so gorgeous! Frankie’s Food Truck Fiasco is a great matching game for little ones. Click the image for more recommendations.

Money Games

Gameschooling is a wonderful way to teach children how to identify and use money. Money Bags by Learning Resources helped all three of my children learn about money. Another easy way to learn about money is to set up a store or restaurant and use play money. Click the image to see more favorites!

Addition and Subtraction Games

Most roll-and-play games (think classics like Parcheesi and Chutes and Ladders) work on those addition and subtraction skills. That said, if you’d like to work them a little more, you can play 4-Way Countdown, Clumsy Thief, and many more! Click the link to read more about these resources and more.

Multiplication and Division Games

Mastering those multiplication tables can be tricky. Gameschooling can work wonders! Some of our family’s favorite games that work multiplication and division skills include Prime Climb, 24 Game, and 4-Way Countdown. Click the image for more recommendations.

Games that Teach Fractions

If you’re looking for games that help children understand fractions, you’re in luck! Some of our family’s favorites include Numtanga, Fraction Formula, and Blobby’s Pizza. Click the image to see more favorites!

Games that Teach Place Value

My kiddos struggled with place value early on and gameschooling definitely helped. Dino Math Tracks is a great resource, as is this simple Place Value Flip Chart that is simple and incredibly helpful. Click the image for more recommendations.

Math Games for Tweens and Teens

Boost connection, make memories and practice math with your tween or teen through gameschooling. Some of our favorite math games for tweens and teens include Prime Climb, Five Crowns, and Power Grid. Click the link to read more about these resources and more.

Are you looking for more resources for homeschooling math?

Be sure to check out these resources:

Discover your gameschool personality!

Do you want to knock your next family game night straight out of the park?

Don’t miss our holiday gameschooling series!

Let’s face it- When our children are super-excited for a certain holiday, not a ton of learning is happening, at least not in the traditional sense.

Our new Holiday Gameschooling series will help you through those holiday hiccups:

Holiday Gameschooling: How to Play Your Way Through ALL of the Holidays!

Are you looking for a gift for your favorite gameschooler?

Check out some of our favorites here:

Do you love games and gameschooling?

Be sure to check out these related posts:

Now, it’s your turn. Tell me: What are your family’s favorite math games right now? Share here.

Math Games For Homeschool Families {A Gameschooling Series} My Little Poppies

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Hi! I can’t remember where I recently saw you mention the game your daughter played that taught her to tell time. Did some searching and haven’t found it. Would you remind me of the name of that game? Thanks!!

Caitlin Fitzpatrick Curley says:

December 9, 2018 at 10:31 am

Hi, Amanda!
We like the time telling game by Eboo. I think you can find it in one of my math gameschooling posts. Good luck!! Happy holidays!