Teaching Expertise

Do you find yourself using the same lessons year after year for rounding decimals? If your answer is “yes”, it may be time to look for some new and exciting math activities for your elementary students. Rounding decimals is an important skill for children to learn for estimating and making predictions. Students will need this for learning about the value of money, learning statistics, and higher-level math concepts as they progress through learning mathematics. Here are 15 fun activities to help them confidently cover rounding decimals! 

1. Rounding Decimals Song

The rounding decimals song is surely one that students will remember. This video resource includes visual examples while the song plays for both auditory and visual learners. I find this song to be very helpful for students to remember the rules of rounding decimals. 

Learn More: Math Songs by NUMBEROCK

2. Task Boxes

This is a fun hands-on game for learning how to round decimals. Students will use these task boxes to complete each challenge. I would recommend laminating the cards so students can mark the correct answer with dry-erase markers. 

Learn More: Carmen Brown

3. Sorting Decimals

This engaging game can be played in math learning centers or as a formative assessment in class. Students will sort the cards into groups based on the dollar amounts. For example, they will start with the card that says $8 and lists the closest amounts under it.

Learn More: Carmen Brown

4. Rounding Decimals using a Number Line

Khan Academy is one of my go-to resources for teaching math. I would recommend using this for the upper elementary grades, including 4th and 5th-grade students. You will start with the video introduction and then allow students to complete the online practice problems. 

Learn More: Khan Academy

5. Roll and Round

For this rounding activity, students will work in partner pairs. The objective is to practice reading and writing numbers to the hundred thousand places. They will practice writing and rounding numbers to the hundred thousand. They will record the number they roll and which place they rounded to. 

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

6. Rounding Decimals 3 in a Row

Students will have a blast with this fun activity. To prepare, you will need to laminate the game board and spinner. Put the spinner together using a bead, paperclip, and the instructions provided. Students will start by spinning a whole number and identifying the decimal that rounds to the number.

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

7. Worksheet Generator

This is a digital activity in which you can customize your own worksheet for rounding decimals. You can select the minimum and maximum number and click generate. Worksheets are simple activities you can enhance by incorporating competition.

Learn More: Soft Schools

8. Themed Task Cards

Lessontopia is a great resource for finding themed activities for rounding decimals and more. For these task cards, students will work together as a team to accomplish all of the fun tasks. You can incorporate this activity into centers, review games, or independent practice. 

Learn More: Amazon

9. Brain Pop

My 5th-grade students always enjoyed watching Tim and Moby from Brain Pop. These resources are very funny and entertaining for elementary students. You can pause the video and challenge students to come up with the correct answers before they are shared in the video. 

Learn More: Brain pop guy

10. Rocket Rounding

For this fun two-player game, you will need dice and printed game boards. Students will use the game board and roll the die to round the number. You can also have students record each turn so they can keep track while playing. What a fun decimal activity! 

Learn More: Pinterest

11. Shopping for Decimals

One way to motivate students to learn how to round decimals is by applying the content to back-to-school shopping. They will go on an imaginary shopping spree and be challenged with rounding decimals along the way. This is an excellent game that students will enjoy. 

Learn More: Education

12. Whiteboard Decimal Game

If your students have access to individual whiteboards, this could be the perfect game for rounding decimals. They will use the companion activity worksheets in pairs or small groups of students. They will draw a number line on a blank board and identify which whole number the decimal rounds to. 

Learn More: Mr. Elementary Math

13. Rounding Decimals Pirate Escape

Players will need to round to the nearest whole number, tenth, hundredth, and thousandth to be successful with this game. This resource includes an answer key so you can have students check their own work to see if they have right or wrong answers. 

Learn More: Pinterest

14. Rounding Decimals Wheel

This is a fun game for children learning how to round decimals. This learning resource doubles as a foldable four-layer coloring activity. It also comes with an answer sheet. Once made, students will be able to interact with the wheel to practice rounding decimals.

Learn More: Common Core Matrial

15. Rounding Decimals Bingo 

Themed bingo is one of my favorite resource types. Rounding decimal bingo comes with 20 calling cards and pre-made cards for students. There are also blank bingo cards for students to make their own. You can use the digital version for online learning and the print version for classroom use. 

Learn More: Pinterest