No matter which 3rd-grade learning outcome you are teaching, there is a math game for you! 3rd-graders will not only find these math games fun and engaging, but games are also a great way to practice math skills.
The 3rd-grade is the start of multiplication, fractions, and more complex number properties.
Addition and Subtraction
1. DragonBox Numbers
DragonBox is a unique app that allows 3rd-graders to deepen their intuitive understanding of numbers and algebra. The fundamentals are hidden within clever drawings and cards. The intuitive problem-solving games allow kids to have fun while learning.
Learn more: App Store
2. Math Tango
Math Tango has a unique, classroom-tested combination of puzzle and world-building activities. 3rd-graders will enjoy building up their maths fluency in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division while going on missions.
Learn more: App Store
3. Subtraction Mountain
In Subtraction Mountain, students help a friendly miner with three-digit subtraction. This game is good for practicing subtraction. Students might find it useful to think of the concept of subtraction as a movement downwards.
Learn more: Education.com
4. Professor Beardo
Help Professor Beardo create a magic beard-growth potion in this fun online game. Not only will students practice their addition skills, but it will reinforce the use of place-value in addition.
Learn more: Education.com
5. Properties of Addition
3rd-graders are introduced to the commutative, associative, and identity properties of addition in this great addition game.
Learn more: Splash Learn
6. Can You Make It?
Give students a set of numbers and a target number. See how many different ways they can use the numbers to get to the target number.
Learn more: Games 4 Learning
Multiplication and Division
7. 3D Multiplication with Legos
Using Lego to build towers introduced students to the idea of grouping, multiplication, division, and the commutative property all at the same time!
Learn more: Frugal Fun 4 Boys
8. Candy Shop
Candy Shop makes multiplication a little sweeter (haha, get it?) by getting 3rd-graders to find the candy jars containing the correct multiplication array. In the process, they will gain an understanding of counting rows and columns to represent multiplication.
Learn more: Education.com
9. Count Your Dots
Count Your Dots is a way of strengthening both the concept of multiplication as an array and multiplication as repeated addition. Using a deck of playing cards, each player flips two cards. You then draw horizontal lines that represent the number on your first card, and vertical lines to represent the number on your second card. On this gird, you make a dot where the lines join. Each player counts the dots, and the person with the most dots keeps all of the cards.
Learn more: Teach Beside Me
10. Mathgames.com
Mathgames.com is a great online platform for practicing maths skills. This multiplication game gives students a chance to practice multiplication and get instant feedback. This division game encourages students to think of division as a function by creating an input-output rule for division.
Learn more: Math Games
11. Flip Dominoes and Multiply
This is a good way to help your 3rd-graders memorize multiplication facts. Each player flips a domino and multiplies the two numbers. The one with the highest product gets both dominoes.
Learn more: Fun Games 4 Learning
12. Divide and Conquer Division Pairs
Another variation on Go Fish, but with division. Instead of matching cards according to suite or number, students form pairs by identifying two cards which one can divide evenly into the other. For instance, 8 and 2 are a pair, since 8 ÷ 2 = 4.
Learn more: Cuppa Cocoa
Fractions
13. Paper Fortune Teller
After folding the traditional paper fortune teller, you can add your own math facts to the sections. For the fraction game, the first layer represents circles broken into fractions. The next level of flaps includes decimal numbers, and students have to figure out which 'flap' matches the circle. The last layer has a bar that students have to color using their fingers.
Learn more: Kids Activities Blog
14. Gem Mining Fraction Conversion
Help our little underground gopher friend mine jewel fractions in this game about mining fractions.
Learn more: Education.com
15. Seashell Fractions
This game about collecting seashell fractions gives students practice with identifying fractions in different contexts.
Learn more: Education.com
16. Using Lego Bricks to Create Fractions
Using Lego Bricks to create fractions is a great way of getting 3rd- graders to consider which part of the whole each brick represents.
Learn more: J 4 Daniel's Mom
17. Fraction Match Game
Download the fraction match flashcards to play a modified version of Go Fish or Snap.
Learn more: Deceptively Educational
18. Comparing Fractions with Like Denominators: Space Voyage
Use the context of space travels to develop fluency in comparing fractions with like denominators. You can play this game here.
Learn more: Education.com
19. Jumpy: Equivalent Fractions
3rd-graders will practice identifying equivalent fractions while jumping from object to object on their way to the party. You can play this game here.
Learn more: Nitter
20. Fraction Match-Up
This free printout gives your 3rd-graders a chance to make matches between the pictures and the fractions they represent. The trading element of this game reinforces the equivalence of the fractions.
Learn more: Deceptively Educational
21. Fraction War
Fraction War is a great game for your more advanced 3rd-graders. Each player flips two cards and lay them out as a fraction. It can be useful to place a pencil between the top and the bottom card to separate the numerator from the denominator. The students decide which fraction is the greatest, and the winner keeps all the cards. Comparing the fractions with online denominators gets a little tricky, but if the students plot them on a fraction number line first, they'll be practicing two skills at once.
Learn more: Math File Folder Games
Other Topics
22. Match up LEGO bricks to tell time
Write times in a variety of ways on Lego bricks and have students see how quickly they can match them up.
Learn more: Scholastic
23. Array Capture
Using two dice, students take turns drawing arrays that represent the area of their throw. The student that fills us most of the page wins.
Learn more: Jillian Starr Teaching
Final Thoughts
Whether you are teaching complex properties of numbers, multiplication, and division, or introducing your 3rd-graders to fractions, we've got a math game for you! Remember that we are trying to use games to improve learning, not just to fill time. You want your 3rd-graders to be engaged and having fun. But you need to do this in a way that supports your teaching and supports their learning.
Frequently Asked Questions
What math standards should I focus on for my 3rd-grader?
The 3rd-grade is the start of multiplication, fractions, and more complex number properties.
Are online or face-to-face games better?
Playing a combination of online and face-to-face games with your students is always best. Online games give your 3rd-grader a chance to move at their own pace and are good for practicing maths fluency. In face-to-face games, you can help your 3rd-grader when they get stuck and make sure that they really understand the concepts.
15 Technology Activities for Pre-schoolers