Have you heard about Math Playground? Well, it is a collection of math games, interactive activities and videos that discuss a wide variety of math topics such as geometry, arithmetic, percentages, algebra, word problems, graphing and logic. There are a lot of games which come from Arcademics.
On Math Playground, teachers are able to find online and printable worksheets. As explained on the Common Sense site, you are able to find games through subject and grade level or you are able to discover them grouped by more broad strands and it can be done by clicking the All Games tab. There is a text window below each game and it lists the Common Core connection.
If you choose the free version of this service, you will get pop-up and banner ads that are easy to mistake for content. However, if you decide to buy the subscription, you will be able to get access to more games, full-screen versions of games, the ability to save favorites, and classroom management features. And of course, if you buy the subscription, the content will be free of ads. However, the good news is that all of the contents in Math Playground will be free beginning September 1st, 2022 as announced on the Subscribe page of Math Playground site.
How Teachers Can Use Math Playground?
As explained on the Common Sense site, in Math Playground, there are a lot of activities of varying quality and also a lot of ads in the free version. So, the best thing to use this tool is to direct students where you want them to go. As a teacher, if you buy the subscription, you are able to assign specific games to the class. When a classroom device is logged in to that account, the activities which have been chosen are easy to find. Teachers are also able to share directly with their Google Classroom.
As a teacher, you are able to use the worksheet generator to print practice sheets or assign online drills. The good news is that this site also has an entire section of multiplayer games to bring some friendly competition. If teachers want to create private competition sessions where students are permitted to compete with one another, teachers can do that. If teachers think that it can motivate students, they can assign those games to those students.
There is the Thinking Blocks collection which uses tape diagrams for simple arithmetic, fractions, and ratio problems. The Modeling Tool can be used by teachers for whole-group instruction and they even are able to save up to eight questions.
Is Math Playground Good for Learning?
Math Playground has a lot of free content. Nevertheless, it is important to wade through the content on the site to find videos, games, and activities that will be able to give your students what they need.
There are some familiar types of games in Math Playground such as math-focused versions of Pac-Man and Tetris and these can help students to explore addition and numbers. There are also other games that require brain-bending logic such as the gravity-based Sugar, Sugar. What else? There are worksheets, drills, and instructional videos which explain a variety of math concepts.
However, it is important for you to note that the level of instruction varies from game to game and there are a lot of games which focus on superficial drills and rote practice. Not only that, the mechanics of some may confuse students, particularly when instructions and help are not available in the game itself. Feedback is also limited to trial and error where students are able to view their progress in individual games, but there is not a system that works to track progress at the site level.
Pros and Cons of Math Playground
According to the Common Sense site, here are the pros and cons of Math Playground.
Pros: There are some games, interactive word problems, and instructional videos which offer value.
Cons: The volume of activities with varied quality is overwhelming and ads which appear in the content are distracting.
What to Find in Math Playground
When you access the Math Playground site, you will be able to find the Subscribe button and Sign In button at the top right of the site. If you scroll a little bit, there are a number of menus of games such as Math Games, Logic Games, Math Arcade, Story Math, Math Videos and All Games. Then, if you scroll down again, there are more options such as Super Math Puzzles, New Games, Addition Games, Multiplication Games, Fraction Games, Geometry Games, Math Models, Animal Games and many more.
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- Math Games
If you access the Math Games page, you can find category spotlight: Factor Pair Up. Not only that, you can also find featured games including Division, Otter Exponents, Algebraic Reasoning, and many more. Multiplication games, Fraction games, Geometry and Graphing games, Pre-Algebra games, and Money and Time Games are also available there. - Logic Games
If you access Logic games, you can find category spotlight: Skill Games. In Featured Games, you can find games like Code Panda, Red Block Returns, Zero Squares, Cookie Trail, Drop It, Happy Cups, Find the Differences, Find the Pug, Globehopper, Monkey Bubbles and many more. You can also find Give Your Brain a Workout including Mazes and Keys, Color Maze, Wind and Solar, One Liner, and many more. - Math Arcade
Here, you can find game spotlight: Pizza Pandas. You can also find Addition and Subtraction Games such as Ten Frames, Kitten Addition, Jetski Addition, Canoe Addition, Island Subtraction and many more. - Story Math
In the Story Math page, you are able to find Thinking Blocks Junior, Thinking Blocks Addition, Thinking Blocks Multiplication, and many more. - Math Videos
In Math Videos page, you are able to find videos like Intro to Fractions, Bar Graphs 2, 3 Digit Numbers, Addition Regrouping, Place Value, Skip Counting, Telling Me, Money, Line Plots, Perimeter, Elapsed Time and many more. - All Games
If you access the All Games page, you are able to find all games such as Bingo Rounding, Mystery Number, Factor Trees, Number Chart Junior, Amusement Park, Math Racer and many more.
- Math Games
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On my daily job, I am a software engineer, programmer & computer technician. My passion is assembling PC hardware, studying Operating System and all things related to computers technology. I also love to make short films for YouTube as a producer. More at about me…
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