Math Games for 2nd Grade Students

How to Help Improve Your Child's Addition and Subtraction

For your child to be successful in addition and subtraction, he must understand how to correctly group items into tens and ones. Not only will grouping help your child understand place value, it will also better prepare him for regrouping in addition and subtraction.

Family Number Sentences

Begin by having your child make a list of family members' first names. Ask your child to count the number of letters in each person's name and write the number beside the name. Then, have your child create number sentences using family member's names. For example, if your child adds John and Joanne, the number sentence would look like this: 4 + 6 = 10. Including extended family members in the list will allow your child to have more practice.

Adding Dominoes

You can be ready to play this game in a matter of minutes. All you need to do is turn a set of dominoes face down on the table. Players will take turns flipping over two dominoes at a time and adding together the numbers represented on the dominoes. If the player adds the dominoes correctly, she keeps the two dominoes. If the dominoes are added incorrectly, the player must return them to play. The player with the most dominoes at the end of the game wins!

Subtraction Macaroni

For this game, use three cereal bowls and dry macaroni to help your child practice subtraction. Place macaroni noodles in two bowls. Ask your child to determine how many macaroni noodles should be in the empty bowl to correctly complete the number sentence.

For instance, if bowl number one has nine macaroni noodles in it, and bowl number two has four noodles in it, your child should place five macaroni noodles in bowl number three to show the difference. The subtraction number sentence would look like this: 9 - 4 = 5. Depending on your child's ability, you can alternate which bowl will be left empty.

Mystery Subtraction

Before beginning this 2-player game, remove the face cards from a deck of cards. Each player will begin by drawing a card from the top of the deck; this will be each player's mystery card. The goal of this game is to use clues provided by your opponent to determine the number on his or her mystery card.

For example, let's say that player one's mystery card is a three. The first card player one draws, which he or she shows to player two, is a seven. Player one could supply a clue like: 'My difference is four'. If the opponent does not correctly identify the mystery card, the game continues and player one provides additional clues.