Multiply Your Math Activities!

28 Maths Resources, Math Activities, and Apps for Kids, Parents, Homeschoolers, and Students.

Author: Sarah Perowne

Last update: 3/3/2023

Math Activities Header

Math activities for kids should be fun and hands-on, so what better way to learn than by utilizing apps and engaging math resources in your classroom? Math shouldn't be a headache. As homeschooling and even traditional education move toward more student-centered learning, aiming to change how kids learn about math and putting students at the forefront of their education, we should all prioritize technology and hands-on learning regardless of how our classrooms look.

With that in mind, here are some math activities, apps, and resources you can share with your kids and students to help them take ownership of their math curriculum, learn more about math in everyday life, and get kids to enjoy math again – because math activities can be fun and educational, all the way from pre-K to eighth grade.

Math Activities for Homeschooling

Homeschooling is great, and as parents, we want to give our little ones or not-so-little ones the best start in life. Here's a list of approachable, didactic homeschooling math resources to help your kids fall in love with counting, multiplying, algebra, sorting, and more. Toddlers up to elementary students can enjoy these activities at home.

Offline Math Activities for Homeschooling

Free Counting & Sorting Activities

Preschoolers don't need math worksheets. They need hands-on didactic math activities that they can get stuck into. Try collecting free materials you already have at home; you could use Jelly beans, our personal favorite, and practice counting them and sorting them into patterns. Check out Teaching Mama's site for more inspiration and free printables!

Cooking, Exploring, & Board Games

When it comes to elementary kids and middle school math activities, it's trickier to find offline engaging resources that are more complex than counting. Luckily everyday activities such as cooking and shopping involve dealing with money, transactions, weight, quantities, and measurements. Problem-solving with board games is another great way to keep children learning. Check out the Parents blog for more ideas on using activities to reinforce math topics at home.

Bitsbox

We couldn't mention resources for homeschooling without a special section for Bitsbox. They offer a homeschooling curriculum for kids ages 6-12 on coding and computer science, and though it's not strictly a math curriculum, homeschoolers and schools love their subscription curriculum boxes. Prices start from $24.95/month, and their lesson plans are common core aligned and combine coding with essential learning concepts for kids like math and literacy. Check out the Bitbox blog to find out more.

https://bitsbox.com/homeschool/

Online Math Resources for Homeschooling

Great Minds Eureka Math

The Eureka Math by Great Minds program is all about sparking curiosity and joy when it comes to math for kids. Think of those aha moments; that's what it's all about. They also offer a free webinar session for interested parents to learn more about the Eureka Math curriculum resources.

https://greatminds.org/math/eurekamath
IXL

IXL offers personalized math curriculum resources for Pre-K up to 12th grade. They have an exciting feature allowing parents to create custom assessments to measure students' progress and provide insights to keep track. As part of the IXL program, students can also study ELA, science, and social studies.

https://www.ixl.com/
HMH, Math in Focus!

HMH is an award-winning K-12 program of materials and resources designed to ensure your homeschooling curriculum meets the highest standards. Rainbow Resource Center is their homeschool partner, offering math workbooks for lifelong math success.

https://www.hmhco.com/

Fun Math Apps for Homeschooling

Dragon Box by Kahoot!

Want to utilize technology in a meaningful way? Dragonbox Math Apps is a Kahoot! Company with tons of didactic resources for ages 4-8+. Need help with multiplication? Try their multiplication mini-games; there are also algebra and number math apps. You can get Kahoot! Kids for free with limited access per day, or choose a Kahoot! Kids monthly or annual subscription to upgrade.

https://dragonbox.com/
Komodo Math

Komodo Math was designed by teachers for families to use at home. The math app resources go from Grades K-5 and are designed to increase fluent math skills at home through short 15-minute lessons. Their little and often approach also guarantees your child won't be spending too much time on the screen. They've got a free 14-day trial, so you can see if it works for your family.

https://komodomath.com/
Blooklet

Blooket, pronounced blue-kit, is a new take on trivia and learning review games. The teacher or parent hosts a game with questions, and students join in from a generated code using their Ipads or devices. You can use the free Blooket app to reinforce topics at home through their educational gaming platform, browse through the Blooket pre-sets or have your kids create their own.

https://www.blooket.com/

Math Resources for Elementary School

Nowadays, kids know a lot about technology, and they also play a lot of online games - sometimes, maybe too much! These online math computer games for elementary students are fun and educational.

Offline Math Activities for Elementary

Sudoku, Crosswords, & Puzzles

Sudoku helps develop procedural pathways in the brain, which can help kids learn math concepts and access information more easily. Crosswords and puzzles work in the same way. You could even make your own sudoku puzzles at home, a great STEM activity. Take a look at Sudoku Essentials for free templates. If you fancy an even bigger challenge, take a look at KenKen Puzzles.

Learning Styles


One of the main reasons that kids struggle with math in the classroom is because of different learning styles. The VARK teaching instruction model works on identifying the four main learning styles. With this knowledge, you can plan offline math activities to help your kids learn math concepts aligned with their learning preferences, helping them access information based on their needs.

Online Math Resources for Elementary

Imagine Learning

Imagine Learning offers a comprehensive program of products designed for the classroom. They are passionate about their relationship with educators. They partner with schools and administrators to offer core math curriculum, supplementary math, math gamification, and individualized intervention math solutions for students in grades PreK-12. They've even got advice on how to set up virtual school programs that meet the needs of your district.

https://www.imaginelearning.com/products/grade-level/#middle_school
Illustrative Mathematics

The Illustrative Mathematics programs are standard-aligned, problem-based core math curricula for Grades K-12. They partner their programs with Kendall Hunt, Imagine Learning, and McGraw Hill. As an open education resource, their resources are free and available for anyone to use under a Creative Commons license, they are free to download, but a fee is required for printable materials and to access digital platforms.

https://illustrativemathematics.org/
Reflex Math

Full of student-friendly resources, Reflex helps students master foundational math skills from grades 2+. Their games and math activities are skilled-focused to reinforce important mathematical concepts. Reflex adapts to your child or students, and parents and teachers can monitor the child's performance with reports.

https://www.reflexmath.com/

Didactic Math Activities for Elementary

Fun Brain

Funbrain offers hundreds of free interactive games, books, videos, printables, and math activities for pre-K to elementary. You can choose your grade level and the best topics to work on with your students. Their games are attractive and interactive, putting students at the forefront of their education.

https://www.funbrain.com/
Prodigy Math

Join the adventure with Prodigy Math's educational content. They've got free quizzes, in-game videos, and math manipulatives. Anyone can make a free Prodigy Math account and start learning. Parents and teachers can access a dashboard to see basic reports and learning insights with a free account. Teacher accounts with all resources are free, but there are paid upgrades for parents to unlock extra features.

https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/prodigy-math/
The Math Learning Center

The Math Learning Center is a great site for finding accessible, simple, and fun apps to engage in mathematics. On their site, they have an extensive list of free apps supported by most modern web browsers. They're definitely worth checking out for their reliable resource selection.

https://www.mathlearningcenter.org/apps

Middle School Maths Resources

Middle schoolers are unique, they're not quite teenagers, but they're also not kids. These math activities for middle schoolers are fun, engaging, and interactive, perfect for teaching middle school math!

Offline Math Activities for Middle Schoolers

Budgeting and Life Skills

A Montessori-inspired activity for middle schoolers could be to work on budgeting. Middle schoolers could handle money on a stall for charity or field trips, plan budget-based projects, and use real-life math skills to increase their confidence and set them up for success. You could even involve them in the planning, plan a budget decoration project, or get them to budget for a dream vacation.

Take a Break From Screen Time

Tech-based education is a powerful tool to set kids up for success, but sometimes, pen and paper is the way to go! Got a few minutes at the end of the lesson? Try some paperless math activities and work on reinforcing strategy. Check out 100 Strategic Games by Walter Joris for hours of strategic fun. Want to find out more? Take a look at Man With Bad Drawings.

Online Math Resources for Middle School

Beast Academy

Beast Academy is a comic-based math curriculum for students ages 6-13 that can be used for homeschooling or in the classroom. It could work for you if you've got a visual learner who works best with illustrations. You can choose whether you want to order the grade-level Beast Academy books series or join the Beast Academy Online program. After completing the Beast Academy books, students can move on to AoPs online or AoPs Academy.

https://beastacademy.com/
Zearn

Zearn is a free online math resource for individual teachers and their classrooms. This nonprofit helps kids love learning math, and it is designed to work alongside your classroom. There are digital lessons that break down difficult math concepts, breaks for kids to practice, helpful hints for struggling students, and more. Homeschool teachers can also use Zearn Math.

https://www.zearn.org/
Hooda Math

Logic, reasoning, and fun, engaging math fact practice make up the free educational activities at Hooda Math. These games, designed by a middle school math teacher, require students to problem solve and are grouped by grade level. Classroom and homeschool teachers can use them to supplement or reinforce math topics.

http://www.hoodamath.com/

Engaging Math Apps for Middle School

Photomath

Born out of frustration to help explain tricky math concepts to kids, Photomath offers classroom and homeschool parents a free downloadable app for elementary to middle schoolers to work on math comprehension and confidence in today's world. The app is common core aligned, and PhotoMath's commitment to helping people understand and master math is clear!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/photomath/id919087726
Khan Academy

The Khan Academy is a non-profit donation-based learning resource for all ages. Students, teachers, and parents can sign up by downloading their free app or joining the Khan Academy online community. The user-friendly interface and instructional videos break down difficult math concepts, and there's also a personalized learning dashboard so that students can study at their own pace. Pre-k to 8th grade.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/khan-academy/id469863705Khan Academy

Our Homeschool Math Tips

Looking for effective homeschool math strategies and tips? Whether your child has ADHD, Autism, is struggling to keep up with math concepts and skills, or you're feeling overwhelmed, see if any of these homeschool math tips might help.

#1. Take Breaks

Take a break! We know it might seem counterproductive, but hear us out. Scientifically the average attention span for a child to maintain focus on one task is around two to three minutes per year of their age. Say your child is around 2-4 years old, so their average attention span in PreK is around 4-12 minutes. That means that a long day of math activities just isn't going to work. Instead, take as much time as your child needs to master foundational math skills, with breaks in between.

#2. Rethink What You Know

Homeschooling requires a complete change of expectations and ideals. It requires homeschooling parents to think outside the box and change what they think they know about teaching and learning. No child is the same, so focus on intentional teaching and small chunks of learning at a time. Remember completing the next task or getting to the next grade level isn't always the point, which leads us to our next homeschooling math tip.

#3. Assess Your Child’s Level

Some kids are great at math, and some kids struggle with math; that's a fact. But, in your homeschool classroom, you can afford the time to focus on what your child struggles with. The ultimate math strategy is to assess your child's current skill level in various math concepts and areas; you can do this with a small informal assessment. When you identify their weaker math areas, you can tweak the math curriculum to suit them, not the grade level. Ultimately, this will help struggling students focus on gaps in their math knowledge.

#4. Play Games

Kids love games! Intrinsic motivation is a powerful learning tool, so harness it. When homeschooling, you can utilize games and hands-on activities to your advantage because, let's face it, when kids are having fun, they are motivated. Use math games, activities, apps, and didactic resources to supplement your homeschooling math curriculum. You could use puzzles to help kids work on complex problem-solving skills or board games to work on strategy. The possibilities are endless!

#5. Have fun with Math!

See? Math instruction can be exciting in the classroom and the homeschooling classroom. These math resources and math activities, both offline and online, should have sparked some inspiration to make all kids fall in love with math, even if they don't love it just yet. If you're a student, we hope you've seen how you can have fun and learn!

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