Math Summer List
Who gives their kid math practice during summer? Sounds crazy, right? But if we do it smartly, it’s really not such a wild idea.
Because we’re not talking about worksheets or drills here—we’re talking about board games that naturally engage different areas of mathematical thinking. The focus will be on playing together, having fun, and enjoying each other’s company. It just so happens that the games we’ll be playing are also… a little mathy.
Written by
Máté Lencse
Educator, game designer,
founder of PlayWise
Why listen to him?
Máté has been regularly playing modern board games and classic abstract board games since 2013. He plays because he loves to. He plays because as an educator, it is his most important motivational and developmental tool. He plays because as a father, it is one of the highest quality times spent with his daughter. He plays because it adds to his marriage. He plays to get to know games and as a game designer, to be able to create new ones. Thus, it's not surprising that he often plays through 15-20 games weekly. Learn more about him and his background on his author page or follow him on social media:
The mathematical benefits of board games are among the most frequently cited aspects of board game pedagogy. And for good reason—when we play games, we do a lot of counting, often tackle logic puzzles, weigh probabilities, and much more.
This is especially true for abstract two-player games—think chess in the West or Go in the East—but the world of modern board games is also rich in opportunities to develop mathematical thinking.
Selecting Development Areas and Board Games
The foundation of board game pedagogy is to conceal the developmental goals from our target group. We don’t make them consciously aware that we’re doing something in order to learn.
Depending on the context, it’s possible to provide reinforcement or reflection at the end of the activity—but the core idea is to organize play sessions around specific goals while ensuring a shared, enjoyable experience.
When choosing mathematical goals, it’s often helpful to simply think through which types of activities are currently causing difficulty—and then look for board games that support those areas.
For example, if a child is just beginning to learn multiplication tables and still struggling, Kingdomino is a great choice. It not only encourages multiplication practice, but also explains and illustrates how multiplication works in a visual way: you multiply the number of crowns by the size of a connected territory. In essence, multiplication is represented visually and conceptually.
It’s worth selecting 2–3 board games for each identified developmental area, so there’s a broader pool—a larger pile—from which the child can freely choose. The sense of autonomy is a key motivational factor: let them feel that they are deciding, they are steering the process. This way, they’ll be happy to play and spend time with us, while we, too, feel joy—since we’re playing something that moves us toward our goals. Another important aspect is that we shouldn't only consider the child’s perspective: a truly valuable play session can only happen if everyone is present with genuine interest and motivation.
Below, we present a few selected games for each developmental goal. This doesn’t mean we are necessarily recommending these specific games—it’s more about showing why and how we choose certain goals, and what kinds of games we use to support them. In doing so, we aim to demonstrate an attitude or approach, which—once understood and adopted—will hopefully enable the reader to find their own solutions, tailored to their own context.
Board Games
Colt Express
A wild west bank heist powered by programming and chaos.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 10 and up, 40 min, 2-6 players
Tools
Train car and locomotive cardboard modules, character tokens, action cards, loot tokens, bullets, round cards.
Skills
Planning ahead, sequential memory, spatial reasoning, light arithmetic when calculating loot or card order.
Instructions
Players program actions to rob a train while avoiding each other and the marshal. Actions are revealed in order, so remembering the sequence is key.
Kiwi
A kiwi is rolling on the ground, who knows where it will stop? Do you? Only if you pay close attention!
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 6 and up, 15 min, 2-6 players
Tools
The box contains a four-piece, assembleable board, movement cards, guess cards, player markers, and a cute kiwi.
Skills
The game enhances working memory, spatial orientation, helps with learning directions, and aids in learning coding.
Instructions
Players play movement cards, of which only the top one is visible, and they must track the kiwi's movement in their heads. The game includes several challenging variations to enhance replayability.
Ricochet Robots
A brain-burning robot race where the shortest path wins.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 10 and up, 30 min, 1-∞ players
Tools
Modular game board, colored robot tokens, goal tokens, solution timer, reference board.
Skills
Mental movement tracking, path visualization, short-term memory, optimization through fewest moves (often numeric estimation).
Instructions
Players simultaneously find the shortest path for a robot to reach a goal using wall bounces only. The fastest player announces their move count and explains it.
Ligretto
A lightning-speed card game where numbers fly and reflexes rule.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 8 and up, 10 min, 2-4 players
Tools
Color-coded numbered cards for 4 players (more with multiple boxes).
Skills
Quick number sequencing, hand-eye coordination, visual memory.
Instructions
Players simultaneously play cards in ascending order in shared piles. Speed and number tracking are essential.
Schnapp den Sack
Add fast, grab faster — only the quickest keeps the sack!
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 8 and up, 15 min, 2-5 players
Tools
The box contains a four-piece, assembleable board, movement cards, guess cards, player markers, and a cute kiwi.
Skills
The game enhances working memory, spatial orientation, helps with learning directions, and aids in learning coding.
Instructions
Players play movement cards, of which only the top one is visible, and they must track the kiwi's movement in their heads. The game includes several challenging variations to enhance replayability.
Kingdomino
Build your perfect kingdom by matching tiles and multiplying crowns.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 8 and up, 15-25 min, 2-6 players
Tools
Domino-style landscape tiles, kingdom boards, castles, player tokens.
Skills
Multiplication in scoring (area × crowns), spatial awareness, tile matching, basic arithmetic.
Instructions
Players draft and place tiles to form a 5×5 kingdom. Scores are calculated by multiplying area size by the number of crowns in each terrain.
Point Salad
A fast-food math puzzle where veggies and strategy meet.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 10 and up, 15-30 min, 2-6 players
Tools
Card deck with double-sided vegetable and scoring rule cards.
Skills
Addition, comparison, planning, adapting to changing point conditions.
Instructions
Players draft cards to build vegetable collections while matching them to scoring rules. Points are tallied based on collected sets.
Of course, it's not just math where difficulties can arise—we can also work on reading skills through board games. Below are a few of our articles on the topic.
