Ditch the Flashcards: 10 Ways to practice math facts

Ah, math facts. I am sure many of you have a memory of flashcards, timed tests, or fighting your parents about practicing the facts at all! Now as the parent…yikes.

Whether you are helping your little one practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division facts, practice is dull and oftentimes unenjoyable, and a fight with your kiddo.

While flashcards have their place, they get old fast and sometimes you need to *spice* things up to get on some fact practice without a battle. Or- maybe your kiddo loves flashcards, but you’re looking to mix things up and create a novel experience to help them really sink in!

Research indicates that unique experiences encourage our brains to commit more to memory- you can read a little more about that here.

Also- whenever your kiddo works on math at home keep your math bucket accessible, don’t have one? Check out this post to see what I would include in mine! If you don’t have the time or resources to create a designated math bucket, a piece of paper, writing utensil, and a ziploc bag of dried beans is all you need.

Providing your kiddo with manipulatives (dried beans) and a way to work out the problems on paper helps build conceptual understanding and scale the activities to meet their specific needs.

When you’re practicing at home, you’re doing just that- practicing! You want to build your kiddos confidence and get in repetitions. There shouldn’t be stress or tears.

Repeated exposure will help your kiddo build automaticity with math facts. Make the experience engaging to them and something that challenges them but doesn’t make them struggle when at home.

It is also a great idea to start with 2 questions that you know your kiddo knows to build a little confidence and enjoyment in the activity right from the beginning. No one likes to work on things they don’t think they are good at, or practice when practicing seems hopeless.

Here is a list of 10 creative ways your kiddo can practice their math facts that don’t involve flashcards- including digital ones.

1. Freerice.com

Free Rice is an educational trivia game that donates 10 grains of rice per correct answer to the World Food Programme.

This website is not available as an app, but is accessible through a web browser on any device.

There are many different categories of trivia that can be played on Free Rice including languages, US states and capitals, movies, and global goals. There is really something for everyone.

The questions do slowly increase in difficulty and are always random. That means, even if you play Free Rice everyday, your questions won’t appear in the same order.

To be quizzed on addition and subtraction facts select “Basic Math (pre-algebra)” from the categories list. These questions are not facts within 10, but are instead various addition and subtraction problems.

For multiplication facts, select “Multiplication Table”. Players are presented with a math expression (a math problem without an equals sign) and four answer choices.

All players are provided immediate feedback, if the question was answered correctly rice appears in a bowl symbolizing the 10 grains of rice donated. Get the question wrong and players are shown the correct answer.

The best part? Players can see how many grains of rice have been donated for the duration of the game!

2. Print off a Math Coloring Sheet

Coloring Squared is a website that has printable coloring sheets for addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts.

Sheets are a full page divided into many small squares to create a grid. There is one problem in each square that needs to be solved. Based on the solution to the problem, kiddos will color that square a specific color as denoted on the sheet's key.

When the entire sheet is colored a picture is revealed! There are tons of problems on each page, I recommend breaking this up over a few days, especially if your kiddo is reluctant to practice.

Setting a timer for 5-10 minutes of work, or 10-20 problems a day may be more manageable for your kiddo depending on their age or ability to focus.

3. Start with the Solution

Now this strategy is two fold. It helps kiddos think backwards with multiplication facts- which then in turn prepares them for division.

For some reason brains have a hard time thinking backwards like this- so this strategy might take a lot of practice and might be better to introduce as a challenge that your kiddo works up to!

Starting with the solution is as easy as it sounds. Give your kiddo the solution to a math problem and let them list all of the ways they can get there.

For upper elementary students this is a wonderful challenge, encourage them to use any and all means they know! A combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division is great for 4th and 5th graders.

For lower elementary- or kiddos that are finding this task difficult- provide a manipulative for them to use. Anything works, pom poms, pencils, action figures, dried beans- whatever you have a large quantity of. It is best to have at least double for the given solution.

For a 5th grader this task might look like this

Solution: 12

Possible Questions: 12x1, 1x12, 3x4, 4x3, 9+3, 24/2, (5+5)x2+4, 144/12, 2x6, 20+ 2x2

For a 1st grader this might look like this

Solution: 12

Possible Questions: 11+1, 10+2, 8+4, 20-8

4. Roll the Dice

Find a pair or more of dice and roll the dice. Have your kiddo use numbers showing on the dice to practice facts.

Two dice work best for multiplication and addition, 3 or more lend themselves to division and subtraction.

If your kiddo throws a 3, 2, and 4. Considering combining the digits as 32/4, or multiplying and then dividing, 3x4 =12, 12/2= 6. Or 32-4, or 34-2, or 3x2=6 6-4 =2.

By using the dice in this manner you can scale the activity and make it more or less challenging.

5. Card games

Some card games lend themselves to practicing math facts. There are many for purchase or free download on Teachers Pay Teachers.

These games are fun and engaging and created by teachers to be used at home and in the classroom to practice various skills. There is an option on the website to search for free resources or you can choose to purchase games.

They have both printable and digital games that can be played so you can choose what works best for you. If you do print games (which I recommend) try to print them on card stock, laminate them, or print on computer paper and glue to cardboard (cereal boxes work great for this!) so they last you a while.

The great thing about these games is that you have them saved and can reprint them as needed. These games can be stored in ziploc bags and left in your math bucket!

6. Hop Scotch

Grab some note cards or scrap paper and write facts down on them. Place the cards in a hopscotch type path in your home or outside. Have your kiddo hop along the path and call out the solution to the question with each hop.

At the end of the path consider adding a challenge question, reward, or encourage your kiddo to write their own cards to challenge someone else (have them write the answer on the back!) If your kiddo us competitive try timing how long it takes them and have them race themselves or someone else in the home.

Mix up the cards to keep the game interesting and to prevent your kiddo from simply memorizing the order of the cards.

Remember that the purpose of fact practice is repetition, so it is more than okay to use the same 10 cards over and over again in a different order.

7. Matching/Scavenger Hunt

I love using post it notes for this activity, but any paper will do.

Write down all of the facts and solutions on different post it notes and jumble them up. Have your kiddo match the correct fact and solution.

For an added challenge write duplicate solutions once and have your kiddo match multiple facts to it.

For kiddos that love to get up and move create a scavenger hunt! Hide the post it notes around the house or designated area and then have your kiddo go find them all.

Once they have been found they can match. For extra movement, hide just the solutions and have your kiddo walk around with the facts and match them while on the move!

8. Target Practice

This activity works great for kiddos that love to play with Nerf guns!

On a large piece of paper or post it notes, write the facts that need practicing. Hang the facts up on the wall and have your kiddo shoot their Nerf gun at the paper.

Whatever their ammo hits they answer. Leave these up after they have been answered, take them down, or move them around. The name of the game is repetition!

This can be played with a ball, sticky hand, or anything else that can be thrown.

9. Learn a Song

Why is it so easy to memorize every word to our favorite song but so difficult to remember math facts?!

Use this curated list from WeAreTeachers to find a multiplication song that works for your kiddo.

When in the classroom I always used this resource for jingles with my students!

SongsForTeaching also has a long list of songs, scroll down to the bottom to find a list of links for each times table. SongsForTeaching also has a list of addition and subtraction songs that can be found here.

10. Play a YouCubed game

These were essential games in my classroom! The students loved them and I loved that they got some good practice in.

How Close to 100 helps students practice multiplication facts and is also great for area and perimeter work.

Race to 100 is more open ended and includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division practice.