3 Engaging Math Games for 7th Graders

Does your middle schooler love math or loathe it? With the right math games, you can your child develop a true love for math.

If you have a seventh grader at home, try out these different math games. It’s a great way to give your child math practice to develop and improve their skills while having fun.

1. Exponent Card Game

This is a math game for 7th graders that is played similar to war. To start, pass out the cards so that the entire deck is distributed evenly among the players. Players should leave the cards face-down on the table in front of them.

Next, each player will flip over his or her top card at the same time. The first card that is dealt is the base. Then, the players flip the next card. This is the exponent. The player with the highest product wins all of the cards!

So, for example, if player 1 flips a 5 followed by a 2, then he calculates 52, which is 25. In the same round, player 2 flips a 2 followed by a 10. She calculates 210, which is 1024.

Player 2 would be the winner of that round and take all four cards.

If a tie is produced, all of the cards for that round are shuffled, and each player draws one. The player who draws the highest value gets to keep the cards.

Play continues until all of the cards have been flipped. The player who has the most is the winner.

2. Tic-Tac-Math

This game helps enforce basic math skills and concepts.

To set this up, draw a tic-tac-toe board on a sheet of paper. Then, make number cards with a handful of fractions written on them. For each turn, each player draws four cards. Then, using multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division, the player must use those cards to get to 1/2.

Here’s an example: If the player draws 1/4, 1/3, 2/3 and 3/4, the student can begin by adding 1/3 and 2/3 to get 1. Then, she can multiply that by the 3/4. Finally, the student can subtract 3/4 – 1/4 to yield 2/4 or 1/2.