Number Sense Activities

Number Sense Activities PDF

Give your students the gift of number awareness with these number games. The following resources prepare your elementary and middle school students for logical, sequential problem-solving math. The best part? These worksheets are completely free to use, can be downloaded easily, and are engaging for your students!

What is Number Sense?

Number sense refers to a student’s understanding and familiarity with numbers, their relationships, and how they can be manipulated. It involves the ability to recognize and compare amounts, estimate and use mental math strategies, and understand the concept of place value. Developing strong number sense is important as it serves as a foundation for mathematical problem-solving and reasoning abilities.

Addition Numbers Sense Activity

Download and print this grade 1 number sense game. Free addition numbers game to compose numbers easily.

Division Numbers Number Sense

Division can be a difficult skill for students to learn. This free number awareness game supports the learning of early division.

Number Sense Even + Odd Number Sort

Try this fun even and odd sorting game to support your students’ math problem solving abilities.

Activities to Build Number Sense

Build up your student’s logical reasoning and problem-solving skills with these number sense activities. With a wide variety of number games to play, there is something for everyone at every skill level. To play your students will need activity mat(s), Number Sense Flashcards, dice, dominoes, counters, spinners (or paper clip and pencil), and the urge to have fun!

Questioning Strategies During Gameplay

By asking questions during gameplay, your student(s) will build number awareness while explaining their strategies. This is an important concept to practice throughout a student’s mathematical journey. Here are a few examples of questions you can answer while playing these games with your student(s).

• Which amount is greatest? How do you know?
• Which amount is the least? How did you figure it out?
• What else do you notice about these numbers/amounts?

Multiplication Number Sense Game

Free, printable multiplication games can be used with flashcards and are perfect for third grade students just learning their multiplication facts.

Number Sense Place Value Games

Our free place value number game supports early elementary and homeschool students (grades K-2) to create logic with their numbers.

Greater or Less Than Number Sense Activities

Compare numbers with this free printable worksheet. This page provides the opportunity to use math vocabulary like greater than, less than, and equal to.

Activities to Develop Number Sense

When using our free, printable number sense activities we suggest having our Number Sense Charts readily available for students to reference. This will help your students understand and play the games efficiently. It is a great idea to print the number sense mats on thick paper like card stock and then laminate them. This creates an even more durable game board with easy cleaning properties. We suggest the same for the flashcards that you will need (mentioned above).

How to Teach Number Sense

Teaching number sense usually begins in the early years of a child’s education. While there are a variety of strategies used to teach number sense ( for example manipulatives, counting in a variety of ways, real word examples) one of the most engaging ways to support number sense practice in students (grades K through 6) is games and activities. The games and activities in this post use a variety of number sense techniques to learn and practice. Here are a few examples of what is included:

• Counting – count anything you can find!
• Create Sets
• Match Numbers – use cards or dice to match identical numbers
• Write Numbers
• Use Manipulatives – counters, dominoes, or household items like pencils, magnets, etc…
• Count On – give your child a number and have them count on (or backwards) from that specific number
• Sequence Numbers
• Basic addition and subtraction facts – use flashcards, number cards from a card deck, or roll two dice