The Nurf Gun Maths Game is an activity that the boys took to with huge enthusiasm. In fact, when I said, “Bring your Nurf guns so we can play this maths game”, the boys came charging through the house at a speed never before recorded.

While I’d love to say the boys came running because I had a maths game, I’m pretty sure it was because I said the words ‘game’ & ‘Nurf guns’ in the same sentence.

Engaging children through their interests is definitely a way to inspire curiosity and learning. I’m sure the creators of Nurf guns didn’t have children’s mathematical skills in mind when they created these toys, but the Nurf guns certainly worked well for this purpose today.

So hooray for Nurf guns … or at least the enthusiasm with which the boys engaged in maths today.

So how did we play the Nurf Gun Maths Game?

First we drew balloons on a whiteboard. If you don’t have a whiteboard, you could also draw these shapes on a window.

Thanks to my terrific assistant, Daniel, who helped finish this task!

Next we wrote numbers inside the balloons. (The terrific assistant wanted to be in the photo … in case you’re wondering).

Next, we lined the players up on the couch opposite the white board and told them to ‘fire-at-will!’

After firing two suction bullets at the whiteboard, the boys were then encouraged to add the numbers together.

If they added the numbers together correctly, they were given a tally mark to record each correct answer.

We used our home-made abacus to help add the numbers together when needed.

Variation to the Nurf Maths Game

To make the game a little more difficult for one of the boys, we started adding the numbers together cumulatively. The abacus proved to be a perfect tool for these addition exercises. The goal was to reach a total of 100.

This game could also be used to review sight words, letter names/sounds, colours and shapes. It could be altered as a maths game to include subtraction or multiplication.

Do you use Nurf guns for educational purposes? I’d love to hear about your ideas.

PS: It wasn’t only the boys who enjoyed this activity. A couple of adults, who shall remain nameless, also enjoyed shooting balloons on the whiteboard!

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Return to the Articles List for other children’s learning activities or children’s book reviews.