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Numeracy games for primary children

Blog
Georgia Fisher
06 May 2025

Numeracy is a subject of rules and routines, but it can be so much more for primary children. Incorporating fun maths games, teamwork and hands-on activities into your lessons can increase engagement and understanding of numeracy.

Base Ten Set

A Base Ten set is a staple for any classroom, and adding fun to maths is proven to improve learning outcomes, increase students' confidence, and increase their love of learning.
Base ten sets offer numerous benefits for children, including numeracy skills such as place value and simple equations. They also provide a visual and hands-on experience, making lessons more accessible to students of all ages. We've put together some fun classroom games to incorporate into your maths lessons to help engage children and support their development and teamwork skills.

These quick and easy-to-create worksheets can be customised to your children's abilities for KS1 and KS2. Below, we've broken down some examples.

KS1

Counting and ordering numbers. Learning to count up to and back from 20. Incorporating a number line with a Ten Base set, learning to count in twos, fives and tens.
Place value. Representing numbers up to 10, counting with tens and ones.
Adding and subtracting. Number bonds and learning to add and subtract numbers under 20.
Simple multiplying and dividing. Incorporating a number line and learning the two, five and tens times tables.

KS2

Adding and subtracting. Learning to add two and three-digit numbers and learn larger number bonds.
Multiplying and dividing. Counting in twos, threes, fives and tens, to develop their confidence with times tables
Problem-solving. Number sequencing and involving simple algebra.
Money value. Developing the children's ability to work out giving change, estimating money and comparing prices
Fractions, percentages and ratios. A Base Ten set can help represent simple fractions, percentages and ratios visually for a more comprehensive understanding.

Learning place value up to 10

Base Ten worksheet representing numbers
These worksheets can be as simple or as advanced as required. Children can create a "city" by building with Base Ten blocks. You can set this activity up to be done independently at their own speed or as a team in a race to the finish. This activity will improve their understanding of the value of digits and representing numbers.
A more complex version of this could be to incorporate simple sums.

A worksheet with simple additions and subtractions

Adding and subtracting to 20

By adding visual and hands-on learning to math, children can engage with their learning and improve their numeracy skills.
To incorporate teamwork and collaboration, split the children into smaller groups and have them take turns completing a section of the worksheet, racing against the other teams. This game can encourage the children's critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills by working in teams or against the clock.
Change the difficulty for different abilities to incorporate larger sums. These games can help children understand the value of digits and group numbers; students can clearly visualise how many units each number is made up of.

Worksheet helping to add and subtract to 20.

Incorporate multiplying and dividing

This game can be made more advanced for KS2 students by including multiplications.

Multiplication base ten worksheet

Times table practice

If pupils struggle with a set of times tables, they can use the sheets to focus on a particular number. By seeing the correlation between times tables and counting up by a certain number, children can visualise their times tables and see patterns.

Rewood six times table worksheet

Base Ten Bingo

Create bingo cards with different numbers and show different base ten models. The children can then mark the matching number on their cards and shout BINGO if they have a line or full house! This game can aid with visual number recognition and base ten interpretation as they work independently to translate the base ten set to a number.

Twinkl Resources

Our partners at Twinkl have a wide range of Base Ten worksheets and games that can help with place value, addition, subtraction and multiplication.
"Base Ten Worksheets" Teaching Resources curated for you.
Twinkl Base Ten resources

The Rewood Base Ten Set (309091) is the perfect solution for all math-based problems. It is a colourful, eco-friendly, functional resource with endless possibilities. With 452 pieces, the set is large enough for the whole class.

Georgia Fisher

Author

Georgia Fisher

Supplier Marketing Officer

YPO

[email protected]

Georgia is a Supplier Marketing Officer who helps deliver a wide range of multi-channel campaigns across both digital and traditional channels. Before stepping into this role, she worked as a marketing apprentice in YPO’s Early Years team, where she focused on researching and creating relevant and engaging content for blogs and social media, as well as supporting Early Years events and key campaigns.