Looking for fun ways to play with math in your homeschool, but prefer offline math games instead of one more math game app? Beast Academy Playground is an ever-growing resource full of free math games for kids you can play on the tabletop, a whiteboard, or the driveway!
While the term “gameschooling” seems to have taken the homeschool world by storm, creatively engaging minds and imaginations when it comes to learning math is nothing new. Hands-on application of real-life concepts reinforces the math concepts we teach. Encouraging critical thinking instead of rote regurgitation promotes creative problem solving.
Not to mention, when we play with something we often grow to love it! Many children probably groan when faced with a math worksheet, but have them apply those same math concepts in the form of a game? How fun!
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What is Beast Academy?
Beast Academy is an advanced comic-based math program for students ages 8–13. This math curriculum encourages problem solving and provides tough challenges to promote math mastery.
Kate Snow, a previous guest on my Homeschool Conversations podcast and author of the Math with Confidence curriculum, is my go-to math expert. So I was curious to find out what Kate had to say about Beast Academy. If you’re curious as well, you can read her review here.
But it’s important to realize that the Beast Academy Playground is for every budding mathematician, no matter what curriculum you use. Develop your student’s love for math and build their problem-solving confidence, starting at age 4, on the Beast Academy Playground!
Beast Academy Playground: Free Math Games for Advanced Problem Solving
Beast Academy Playground is an online resource for offline math games. This is a perfect way to include fun math games in any homeschool math curriculum!
Just head to the playground here and search for a fun math game your children will love.
You can filter the results by activity type (number games, shape games, physical activities, abstract games, arts and crafts, or curiosities), age range (3 years old to 11+), number of players, location (tabletop math games, outdoor math games, or around the house), and the time it takes to play the math game.
You can also filter results by the learning objective if there is a particular skill like spatial reasoning, addition/subtraction, probability, place value, etc that you are wanting to reinforce in your homeschool math lessons.
Once you click on a particular game, you’re taken to a page with includes an instructional video and detailed, illustrated, step-by-step game rules.
Want to take the math game to the next level? Many of the games include suggestions for variations. The “Learning Notes” section helps the teacher understand what math skills are being learned and gives suggestions for further teaching.
As a mom of many, I especially loved how my 3 younger kids could all have fun playing these math games together, even though their grade levels range from 1st grade to 6th!
Math Games for Kids
So far we’ve played 3 games from Beast Academy Playground, and they have all been a huge hit!
Carronade: A Shape Game for Ages 5+
This math symmetry game is great for developing spatial skills. Since you only need paper and pencil to play, it’s also a perfect game to break out in a waiting room or on a car trip.
High Ground: A Problem Solving Number Game for Ages 5+
This number game could be played as a tabletop game, although we had fun drawing a huge grid on our whiteboard. This also made it easier to play multiple games in a row.
Speed: Addition/Subtraction Number Game for Ages 5+
This game goes fast which can be a struggle if kids of differing math levels are playing together. I teamed up with my 6-year-old the first few times to help him understand how to play. You have to quickly recognize patterns and add/subtract in order to win this game!
With more math games being added all the time, we have months’ worth of math play ahead of us!
Make Math Education Fun Again
You don’t have to buy expensive math games or download another app to your phone.
Whether you’re looking for a way to engage a reluctant learner or a way to challenge an advanced mathematician, head to Beast Academy Playground and find a free math game to play today.
And if you like to play with math during your Morning Time, use the Beast Academy Playground filters to find a game many ages of children can play together!
Looking for more homeschool math resources?
- Invert and Multiply? Why?
- Homeschool Math with Confidence (video interview with Kate Snow)
- Hands-On Math: Binary Finger Counting
- Kindergarten Math with Confidence homeschool curriculum REVIEW
- Homeschool High School Math Online (with Dennis DiNoia from Mr. D Math)
- Pi Day Party Resource Round-up
- CTCMath: online homeschool math curriculum video review
- High School Math and ACT Prep: Online Homeschool Math with Mr. D Math
- Don’t Know Much About: Math
- Multiplication and Division Facts That Stick: Book Reviews
How do you play with math in your homeschool?
Now that my “aspiring math beast” is older, we love playing with the resources on the AOPS website, including Alcumus. My boys also enjoy playing games in the forums and even writing solutions to puzzles on that site.
That’s amazing! I love seeing kids blossom in their own unique ways.