Math lessons getting a little stale? Are your students getting B O R E D of the same old practice worksheets and textbook problems? Been. There. Here are my tried and true top three ways to make math more engaging – and the best part? They are totally free and totally low prep. Use them tomorrow to mix it up in your math classroom!

1. Take it to the Floor

Sounds insane – I get it, but hear me out. Take any practice activity, worksheet, etc. Print it out HUGE, and have students work in groups or as a class on the floor to solve. For example – if my kids are practicing order of operations, I might print (or heck, just write) one number or symbol per each page, and lay it out on the floor as a problem to simplify using order of operations. 

Have students gather around, and then one at a time, move the pages around to simplify the expression, while discussing each step. (for this one, you’d need to have an extra set of numbers printed as well for any new numbers created when adding, etc.)

Use this lesson idea for literally anything! Multiplying whole numbers? Print them out (or write them) HUGE, and lay the problem out on the floor to solve. Working on geometry? Even better – create huge shapes out of poster paper or chart paper and use those all over the floor for the activity instead of drawing on the board or using notebooks.

2. Stick it on the Walls

I always talk about this one, but it’s SO GOOD. One of my favorite ways to make math more engaging. You can literally make any activity a ‘walk the room’ activity. Use a worksheet – cut up the problems and tape them around the room. Use questions from the textbook – write them bigger on colored paper and tape around the room. Use task cards and – you guessed it – just tape them around the room!

Your students can use a simple piece of notebook paper numbered for the problems to walk around and record their answers. It’s such low-prep but the besttt way to get your students up and moving to complete some practice problems, rather than just sitting and working in their math textbook.

If it’s a newer concept, have students work in pairs to solve as many correctly as possible. For formative assessment, have them come to you to check their answers after every 3 or so problems, so you can make sure they are on the right track!

Want to differentiate? Put different levels of problems on different colored paper. Have groups answer just the green cards, or just the purple cards, etc.

I love doing this with a math color by number activity to make it even MORE engaging. That way, they’re not just walking around the room and writing answers, they are walking around the room, writing their answer, AND coloring the corresponding section on the color by number worksheet. You can see full grade level bundles of color by number worksheets for 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade math by clicking here.

3. Make it a Competition

Friendly – of course! A competition is the best of the best when it comes to ways to make math more engaging. Put students into groups. Give each group a worksheet, list of practice problems to solve, or task cards. Set a timer, and each group will work together to solve one problem at a time. Once they solve one problem, a different student from the group each time will bring the answer to you to check. They need to be able to explain their process to solving as well!

If they get it right, the ‘runner’ gets to write the team name on the whiteboard one time. You can even apply values to each problem, and for more complex problems, maybe they get to write their team name two or three times. 

Repeat this process until time is up, and the team that has their name written on the board the most times at the end of the allotted time, wins!

I like to do it this way so that students have to understand the concept, and they also have to take their time to try and get the correct answer, not just rush through! It also ensures there isn’t just one student answering everything and not explaining their reasoning to anyone else.

So, promise me you won’t let your math lessons become stale this year! Use one (or all) of these ways to make math more engaging and I pinky promise your students will love it. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel or spend hours creating elaborate lesson plans and activities. Switch up an already-planned lesson or unit using one of these ideas!

Want more ways to make math more engaging, and other math lesson ideas? Click here!