New Review Game: Try it Free and Win the Game of your Choice

Claw Machine Game gif

I love playing games in my math classes! Here are just a few of the many benefits of good review games:

  • they are a great way to practice any type of skill
  • students love them
  • students are engaged
  • games encourage collaboration among students

I have found, though, that the key to keeping students engaged and enjoying games is to switch them up frequently.  No matter how fun a game may be the first few times you play it, the students will eventually get bored with it if it is the ONLY game you ever play with them.  Having a good variety of games to pull from really makes a difference in keeping up student enthusiasm and engagement levels.  Some of my go to games include Bingo, Jeopardy-style games, Attack, and standard whiteboard games, but I am always looking for new ones to add to the mix, which is why I teamed up with my husband again to create some new, fun interactive review games!

We thought it would be fun to bring some arcade-style fun into the classroom so we created a Claw Machine Review Game.  It can be played in teams or non-competitively.  (I tend to teach competitive students so I plan to use the team-mode with my classes).

negative fractions claw machine pic2

There are 5 different categories in a game, which are listed on little cards along the bottom of the claw machine.  The claw (crane?) moves back and forth in the machine.  Have a student either toss a koosh ball at the interactive whiteboard if you have one that supports touch or simply click with a mouse to stop the crane and pick up a card.  It will pull up a random card from the category it is in front of.  Have each group come up with an answer and then reveal the actual answer.  Award points to teams with correct answers and either subtract points or do nothing to teams with incorrect answers.  Once all questions from a category have been asked, the category card will disappear from the machine.

claw machine decimals pic3.160725013220

You can also adjust scores at any time by clicking the little +/- button on the bottom right-hand corner.  (One idea that could add to the competition/excitement would be to subtract points from a team that doesn’t successfully pull up a card when they toss the ball at the screen).

At the end of the game, the final team scores and standings are displayed.

claw machine decimals pic4.160725013220

You can play a full game for FREE to try it out to see if you like the idea & set-up of the game!  Just click on the picture below to play the free Demo Game.  (It should open in a new tab right in your browser).

claw machine demo game

If you try out the free Demo and think that you would like to play a claw machine game with your class this year, simply leave a comment telling me which of the 4 games listed below you would like to win.  On Monday, August 1st a random winner will be selected from everyone who leaves a comment and I will email the winner the game of their choice!  The choices of Claw Machine Games to win are:

  • Algebra Back to School Review (Includes: integer operations, evaluating expressions, simplifying algebraic expressions, properties, and writing expressions)
  • Decimal Operations (Includes: addition, subtraction, multiplication, & division of POSITIVE decimals, along with decimal word problems)
  • Solving Equations (Includes: one-step equations, two-step equations, equations with variables on both sides, multi-step equations, and writing & solving equations)
  • Operations with Negative Fractions (Includes: addition, subtraction, multiplication, & division of positive and negative fractions & mixed numbers, and comparing/ordering negative fractions)

(Click the pictures below for a closer look at each game.)

claw machine algebra back to school cover.160722013228.160725013219  claw machine decimals pic1.160725013220  equations claw machine cover.160722013229  negative fractions claw machine pic1

 

Here is a video preview of the Algebra Back to School Claw Machine Game:

UPDATE 8/1:  This giveaway has ended.  Since there were 9 entries I used a random number generator to select a number between 1 and 9 to choose a winner.  5 came up, so Lisa (the 5th person to comment) is the winner!  

Capture

Thank you so much to everyone who entered and for all the kind comments about the game.  If you’d like to purchase a claw machine game, they are on sale (along with all my other resources) today and tomorrow for 28% off with code BestYear.

Thanks for reading,

Christina

17 thoughts on “New Review Game: Try it Free and Win the Game of your Choice

  1. I love the game! It’s so nice to have something to review besides Jeopardy. I would love to win the decimal game, fraction game, or equation game.

  2. I really this game. I think my students will like how random the selection of questions would be. I would like to win the Decimal game for my 6th grade students.

  3. This game was really fun. I would love to win the Algebra review game. I think I would use the eggspert clicking system and let the first team that buzzes answer each time. I know my students would love this game!

  4. I loved playing the demo game. I can see students being engaged and learning. I teach remedial math so sometimes its hard to get kids excited, this definitely would! I’d love to win the decimal game for my class.

  5. Your Claw Machine Game is engaging for students, supports flexible math thinking, and offers concrete practice that can include accountable math talk. Wow! The options on the demo game are fabulous. My class can truly benefit from the Decimal Game. Thanks!

  6. I would love to learn more about how you created these. Amazing job! I would love to win the decimal operation game.

    1. Thank you so much. I’d love to tell you how these games were created…but I have no idea! My husband is a software developer and he made the games a reality with many, many lines of code. I just supplied the questions and gave him input on what I wanted – he did all the hard stuff! 😉

  7. I use games in my math class also but was in the market for some new ones to start the year. I would like to have the Algebra Back to School game.

    1. Hi Ruth,

      Thanks! My husband and I are hoping to release a template version of the game at some point to allow teachers to come up with their own questions and categories. We are still working on coming up with a way to make it easy for teachers, though, so it won’t be for awhile that we have it ready.

      Thanks,
      Christina

      1. This sounds like a great idea, because quality math games can be hard to find when you’re looking for something specific. How tech-savvy would teachers need to be to create their own version? Would this be an easy process?

        1. Hi Kayla,

          To create a game from scratch would require you to be very tech saavy. My husband is a software developer and he wrote all of the code for these games. However, he is currently working on a build-your-own version, so once that is finished it will be very easy for anyone to create one of these games!

          Thanks,
          Christina

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