The first game shown here is Square number Run. The premise is to make a path across the grid so the total is a square number. The first to reach the other side wins.
This can be adapted. Maybe it works better to keep the counters on each square you pass the other player cannot use that square after. I’d love to know how the game goes when you use it.
Here are all the games in ppt form
The next game is called Prime Pairs and each played places counters on adjacent squares so the numbers add up to a prime number. They keep taking it turns to do this until someone can’t go, the person who places the last pair is declared the winner.
The next game is loosely based on connect 4. Players announce a number (less than 100 – this could be changed but i figured if they multiply every value in a row then all the numbers in the row can be covered) and place counters on numbers that are adjacent and are factors of that number. The winner has the most squares covered.
UPDATE! I decided to trial two of the games ‘prime pairs’ and ‘connect the factors’ with year 7 today. They seemed to go down well and students seemed to be engaged. It did invite some interesting discussion about strategy (if there was a row of 4 numbers in Prime Pairs then students told me they placed the counters in the middle in order to stop the opposing player having a go)
After they played each game I gave the students 5 minutes to reflect on the games and how they might improve them. A selection of the most popular improvements are below. This will form a discussion for the next lesson
‘can you have diagonals in the prime pairs game?’ i was considering allowing diagonals and see if they notice anything. I might let them create their own grid to play with.
‘Should we only allow 3 or more shaded for the factors game?’
‘How can we have got a row of 3 instead of two in this situation?’
‘What number(s) have 12, 9, 2 as a factor?’
‘Can you find a number who’s factors add up to the number?’
MathsHKO 