What Is Math Munchers?

Math Munchers

About the Game

The Math Munchers game was produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium, and it was originally called Number Munchers. In this game, kids practice basic math skills, like calculating factors and multiples, identifying prime numbers and determining whether two expressions are equal or unequal. These are math skills that are typically taught in middle school.

In the game, the player must try to 'munch' all of the appropriate numbers on the board. For instance, if the game is in 'multiples' mode, the player must navigate around the board and try to 'munch' all of the multiples of certain number. If the number was 3, for instance, the player would find numbers like 6, 9 and 12. There are monsters on the board that make the game more challenging by moving the numbers around and getting in the player's way.

Where to Find It

You can download this game for your child free of charge at www.virtualapple.org. Once you've downloaded the software, which is compatible with PC or Mac, your child can play the game offline.

Similar Games

Math games are a great way for your child to practice recently learned skills or review skills learned in previous grades or units. They can be an effective way to get your child more excited about math. Furthermore, games may facilitate learning better than paper-and-pencil exercises because they are more engaging.

Number Eaters

There are lots of free math games online that are similar to Math Munchers. For example, your child can go to www.hoodamath.com and play the game Number Eaters. In this game, students can practice elementary math skills, like basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. There's also an option in the game for working with equivalent fractions.

To play the game, your child will use the arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate around the screen and identify certain types of numbers, fractions or expressions. For instance, he or she might be asked to find expressions with a difference of 2, like 6 - 4 and 3 - 1.

The Number Monster

If you're looking for games that will help your child practice basic math skills, you can also check out the Number Monster game, which is offered at www.coolmath-games.com. In this game, your child can choose to practice basic number operations at levels ranging from 'Easy' and 'Easy 2' to 'Killer' and 'Monster.' A sample 'Easy' addition problem is 10 + 6, while 20.6131 + 112.0203 is considered 'Monster' level.