Elementary Division Games

Elementary Division at a Glance

At the third grade level, your child will be using division to solve word problems within 100. By the time your child reaches fifth grade, he or she will be determining quotients of division problems containing 4-digit dividends and 2-digit divisors. At this grade level, decimal amounts will also be introduced.

Division is a real-world math skill that your child will use throughout life. Repeated practice will play a huge part in your child's success with this skill. So, review consistently at home, and consider incorporating fun activities into review to make it seem less boring.

Toss Me Some Division

Before beginning this activity, label a beach ball with a variety of numbers. On one side of the ball, write numbers that can be used as a dividend. On the opposite side of the ball, write numbers that will be used as a divisor. To begin the game, toss the ball to your child and have him or her catch it normally. Your child will use the numbers under or near each thumb to create a division problem.

Have your child divide the two numbers on paper and then use a calculator to check his or her work. For advanced students, feel free to include larger numbers or numbers containing decimals.

Can You Get a Two?

For this activity, you will need to remove the face cards from a deck of cards. Shuffle them and create two even stacks, one for each player. Players will draw two cards from their stacks and continue drawing until their two cards will give them a quotient of two when divided. The first player to get a quotient of two, using any combination of the cards drawn, receives a point.

For example, if a player draws an eight and a three then he or she must continue drawing. If the next card the player draws is a four, then he or she can use the eight and the four to get a quotient of two. After five rounds, the player with the most points wins! If your child is in an upper elementary grade, you may want to create your own cards that include larger numbers. You can also change the target quotient that players are trying to obtain.