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February 21, 2017 Leave a Comment

Brain Games in the Primary Classroom

Growing up, I was not a fan of math.  I especially was not a fan of logic games because I thought they were too hard! My brain actually hurt when I thought too hard {slight exaggeration, but you get my point – I was a kid who wanted to read a book over doing math any day!}

As I’ve grown older {and have read articles citing studies suggesting the benefits of brain games} I’ve realized that it’s so important to expose children to these logic games from a young age.

If exposed to the right kind of logic games, you can improve attention spans, working memory, and thought processes over time.

You may know that I’m a huge fan of math games in my classroom! {You can grab Math Game FREEBIES for your classroom and learn about how I set up my math games, too!}

When students have any free time, they are always allowed to pull out a math game and work on some skills.

In the past few years, I’ve added more than the standards-based math games I started with.  Now, our math bins include logic puzzles, games and brain teasers.

Here are a few of my current favorites:

Logic & Learning

These thematic logic puzzles ask students to read clues to determine the correct order of the colored pictures.

Problem Solving in the classroom! Stretch your students brains and use logic to solve these mixed up clues!

They’re great for a few reasons: they practice reading, they need to practice directionality, and they need to stretch their minds a little bit!

In Love with Logic! Get your students to to stretch their brains and follow directions with these logic puzzles for February!

I love that that these logic puzzles make students follow directions!

Lucky Logic Puzzles Lucky to Be in First | Get your students to stretch their brains and follow directions with these logic puzzles!

Logic & Learning is a growing bundle that will include a set of problem-solving puzzles for each month!

Brain Games in the Primary Classroom - get your kiddos to grow their brains in a fun way! Puzzling Peeps

To introduce each set, I usually do a few puzzles with the students.  Then, I put all the puzzles & pictures into tub, along with the answer sheet.

On the Dot

In this brain teaser game On the Dot {affiliate link}, players try to arrange four transparent squares so they perfectly line up to match the dots shown on the pattern card.

Brain Games in the Primary Classroom - get your kiddos to grow their brains in a fun way!

It totally seems easy…until you try it! But I have a few kids who won’t give up on it! It includes 60 different puzzles, so it’ll keep ‘em thinking for a while.

Go-Go Dominoes

A simple way to stretch those brains is to pull out your dominoes! I’m not sure what it is about dominoes that kids love, but they are highly motivating!

So, I slipped a little learning into those “toys” they’re so fond of!
Go-Go Dominoes are a HUGE hit during our math time!

Mystery Math Dominoes are a great way to get kids "playing" with toys...and working on essential math skills!

These activities ask kids to use their problem-solving skills to work it out!

Mystery Math Dominoes are a great way to get kids "playing" with toys...and working on essential math skills!

I love when you can combine toys and learning – don’t you?

Mystery Math Dominoes are a great way to get kids "playing" with toys...and working on essential math skills!

Flexi Puzzle

Do you remember these fun stretchy block toys? Well, some genius has turned it into Flexi Puzzles {affiliate link} –  the bendy, stretchy brain-teaser that helps encourage spatial and three-dimensional thinking! How fun is that?

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Using the included challenge book, kids bend the 12 colorful cubes in every direction to master each of the four levels {which range from beginner to master}

Brain Games in the Primary Classroom - get your kiddos to grow their brains in a fun way!

Kids can’t get enough of it! And to be honest, neither can I!

Problem Solvers for the Year

To extend that logical thinking throughout the day, we’ve started using Problem Solvers. The kids pull out these half-page math warm ups each day.

Problem Solvers - Get your kiddos to grow their brains in a fun way!

These monthly packs each follow the same format.
First Week of Each Month: Some type of number or visual pattern the students need to extend.
Second Week of Each Month: A word problem to solve.
Third Week of Each Month: An open-ended question.
Fourth Week of Each Month: Students are given the answer to a problem and they must write up the question!

Click to learn more about Problem Solvers!

Do you have any problem-solving activities that you love in your class?

Slainte!

This post contains affiliate links for Amazon.  By purchasing an item on the Amazon site using these links, I will receive a small commission on your purchase {which helps me buy even more books!}  For more information about my Disclosure Policy, please visit this link.

Filed Under: math, math games galore, Uncategorized Tagged With: math, problem solving

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Molly Lynch
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