place value homework ideas

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30 Smart Place Value Activities and Games for Elementary Math Students

Place value pool noodles? Genius!

Place value is one of those basic concepts that help kids build a wide variety of math skills. There are lots of fun place value activities and games you can use to help them understand, whether you’re working with basic tens and ones or have advanced to decimals with tenths and hundredths. Here’s a terrific collection of ideas to add to your upcoming lesson plans!

1. Start with an anchor chart

Help students understand and remember four ways to represent numbers and place value with an anchor chart. Turning the chart into a robot ups the fun factor!

2. Read a book about place value

We’re not talking about the paragraph in their math workbook that explains the concept. We mean one of these engaging and entertaining place value books that capture kids’ imagination while helping them understand how place value works and why it matters. There are plenty of options out there—here are a few of our favorites.

• Zero the Hero , by Joan Holub and Tom Lichtenheld
• Sir Cumference and All the King’s Tens , by Cindy Neuschwander
• Place Value , by David A. Adler

3. Turn paint samples into place value sliders

Use the cutouts in paint sample chips as little “windows” for numbers. This is a fun and colorful way to introduce place value to your students.

4. Show it four ways

Ask students to demonstrate their understanding of place value by showing one number in a variety of ways. Get a free printable worksheet for this activity at the link.

5. Transform a pillbox into a place value manipulative

Stop by the dollar store for some weekly pillbox containers, then use our free printable labels to turn them into dice shakers you can use for all kinds of place value activities.

6. Stack place value Cheerio towers

Looking for more inexpensive math class ideas? Grab a box of uncooked spaghetti and some Cheerios to use for your place value activities.

7. Visualize place value with a foldable

Use sentence strips and dry-erase tape to create a reusable math manipulative that reinforces place value concepts and expanded form.

8. Slide cards into binder pages

Use divided binder pages along with number and base-10 cards to show place value. Call out each digit and its place (“There’s a 3 in the thousands place”) and see if your students can make the correct number.

9. Construct a tower of base-10 blocks

Base-10 blocks are a popular math manipulative , and they’re perfect for teaching place value. This activity challenges kids to use the blocks to find three different ways to build a structure representing 1,000. New to base-10 blocks? Here’s a good starter set from Amazon to try.

10. Figure out the place value of your name

Here’s another clever use for base-10 blocks. First, have each student use them to spell out their name. Then, count up the numbers of tens and ones blocks to determine your name’s place value!

11. Stack paper cups

While you’re at the dollar store, pick up some stackable paper cups. Number them 1 to 9 along the edge, and then use them to talk about place value as you stack them to create different numbers.

12. Build place value bugs

How cute is this little number bug? Use large pom-poms for tens and smaller ones for ones, then set them on a wood craft stick to create a number.

13. Shoot for the target with LEGO bricks

LEGO bricks really are ideal for place value activities. Toss the bricks onto a homemade target with rings to represents ones, tens, and so on. Count the studs of each brick that lands on a place value ring, then add them up to get your final number. See more LEGO math ideas here.

14. Build understanding with LEGO bricks

You know your students love to build with LEGO, so use them to reinforce place value concepts too. Hands-on place value activities are always the most fun!

15. Act out multiplying and dividing

Active math games are one of the best ways we know to get kids involved in their learning. Find out how to act out multiplying or dividing by powers of 10 at Teacher Thrive .

16. Play a game of Place Value War

Play this game with Uno cards or a classic deck with face cards removed. Each player has a number of piles (depending on which place values you’re working on) and lays down the top card from each. The players say the resulting numbers out loud (e.g. “five hundred thirty”), and the player with the highest number wins. For a fun variation, allow players to use the cards they flip to create the highest possible number.

17. Build a number

Kids select some number cards, then try to meet a series of challenges like making the largest number they can. Add in a decimal card to up the complexity of the game.

18. Keep track of school days in a pocket chart

Each day, count how many days students have been in school this year by adding counters like 10-frames to a pocket chart. The number climbs as the year goes on, building from ones to tens to hundreds.

19. Send them on a scavenger hunt

Grab a stack of old magazines and newspapers and let kids loose to find examples of the place value challenges set in this scavenger hunt. Go to Primary Theme Park to get the free printable.

20. Shake things up with Yahtzee

Roll out the dice and try to beat your opponent as you fulfill the conditions of this special game of Yahtzee. Print the free game boards and get the rules at the link below. Find more creative ways to use dice in your classroom here.

21. Enjoy a game of Whack It!

What kid doesn’t love to whack things with a fly swatter? Put that energy to good use by having them slap the swatter down on the correct values as you call them out.

22. Take a journey on the Place Value Path

This free printable game combines a traditional board game with bingo. Roll the dice to see which outer square you land on. Count up the number represented by the base-10 symbols, and mark it on your bingo board. When you get five in a row, you win!

23. Toss beanbags into place value bins

Combine hand-eye coordination practice with math skills in this place value game. Label bins for tens, hundreds, etc., and choose a number. Kids toss numbered bean bags into the correct bins to win!

24. Snack and learn with rainbow math

Use Froot Loops cereal pieces and pipe cleaners to learn tens and ones with this free printable activity. Don’t want to use cereal? Try beads instead.

25. Use nuts and bolts to learn place value

Looking for inexpensive ways to represent base 10? Try nuts and bolts! You can pick them up in bulk at the hardware store, and it’s easy to replace them if they get lost.

26. Make giant DIY ones and tens blocks

Cut squares of bright-colored card stock for ones, and tape together a series of them to create the tens. Then add smiley faces to the top just for fun, and have kids hold up the giant blocks to represent various numbers.

27. Cut a pool noodle into tens and ones

The nice thing about these DIY manipulatives is that they’re easy for little hands to handle. Cut pool noodles to represent tens and ones to give kids practice building numbers.

28. Solve a place value puzzle

Place value activities are still important for older kids. This advanced activity asks them to solve math word problems and write the solutions into the correct place on the grid. Get the free printable at Education.com .

29. Complete a place value maze

This advanced place value activity gives students practice adding hundreds, thousands, and higher. They find the next correct answer in the maze as they go along. Visit Math Geek Mama for these free printable mazes.

30. Walk along giant number lines

We love place value activities that also get kids up and moving! For this one, use masking tape to create number lines for ones, tens, hundreds, etc., on the floor. Choose a number and use paper plates to mark the correct places on the number lines, or have kids stand on the correct mark instead.

Looking for even more math fun? Try these fun and free fraction games!

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Place Value Worksheets

Printable worksheets on place value, reading and writing large numbers, ordering numbers, expanded form, and digit values. Choose the number of digits below and you'll be forwarded to a page with a selection of worksheets.

This page offers a large collection of place value worksheets with 2-digit numbers. Skills include finding the value of the underlined digit, expanded form, comparing numbers, ordering, and reading numbers. (Approx. level: Kindergarten - 1st)

This page has a set of 3-digit PV worksheets and games. Skills covered include: digit values, standard/expanded form, reading and writing numbers, ordering, comparing, and place value blocks. (Approx. level: 1st and 2nd Grades)

Browse our massive collection of 4-digit place value activities. Includes a variety of games and printables, covering: expanded notation, inserting commas, reading numbers, place value blocks, digit values, and more. (Approx. level: 2nd and 3rd Grades)

The printables on this page can be used for teaching and reviewing 5-digit place value. Practice finding the values of the underlines digits, write numbers in expanded notation, arranging numbers from least to greatest, and placing commas correctly. (Approx. level: 3rd and 4th Grades)

Practice place value up to hundred-thousands with these games and worksheets. Learn about digit values, writing number names, expanded and standard notation, and comparing large numbers. (Approx. level: 3rd and 4th Grades)

These PV activities have large 7-digit numbers, up to 9,999,999. This page has a variety of worksheets, games, cut-and-glue projects, and lesson ideas. (Approx. level: 4th through 6th Grades)

Print worksheets, cut-and-glue activities, and other activities for learning about place value up to 10 digits (billions).

Decimals & Money Place Value

Review place value skills to the nearest tenth. Includes comparing, ordering, and finding the value of the underlined digit.

These worksheets will help kids learn about reading, ordering, comparing, and values of digits in numbers to the nearest hundredth.

Determine the values of digits to the nearest thousandths place. Also, review ordering, rounding, and comparing numbers to the nearest thousandth place.

Practice place value with money amounts. Read money amounts; compare and order money. Round to the nearest penny, dime, or dollar.

Rounding to the nearest ten, hundred, and/or thousand.

Download a variety of different 100 charts and 120 charts.

This index page will link you to worksheets on counting up to 10, counting up to 20, and counting up to 30. Also includes specific number trace-and-print activities for 1 through 30.

Learn about place value with these "special number" worksheets. Available in 1-digit, 2-digit, 3-digit, 4-digit, and 5-digit numbers.

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25 Activities to Teach Place Value

• Christopher Olson
• February 14, 2022
• No Comments

Place Value Activity 1.  Write the Room

2. Morning Meeting Routine

3. Lego Block Place Value

Place value activity 4.  file folder games, 5. paint swatch place value, 6. math centers.

Place Value Activity 7. Base Ten Monsters!  (Or Robots)

8. place value names, 9. identify different place value units.

Place Value Activity 10. Place Value War

11. place value read alouds.

• Zero the Hero by Joan Holub (aff)
• Sir Cumference and All the King’s Tens by Cindy Neuschwander (aff)
• Math Fables: Lessons That Count by Greg Tang (aff)
• Earth Day–Hooray! by Stuart J. Murphy (aff)
• Place Value by David A. Adler (aff)
• A Place for Zero by Angeline Sparagna LoPresti (aff)
• The King’s Commissioners by Aileen Friedman (aff)
• A Million Dots by Andrew Clements (aff)
• How Much is a Million by David Schwartz (aff)
• Penguin Place Value by Kathleen Stone (aff)

12. Place Value Math Printables

Place Value Activity 13. Rolling for Place Value

14.  place value yahtzee, 15. color by number.

Place Value Activity 16. Pool Noodles

17. center work mats.

18. Place Value Hopscotch

Place value activity 19. snowball place value toss, 20. i have, who has.

21. Place Value Nuts and Bolts

Place value activity 22. ping pong challenge, activity 23. place value and science.

24. YouTube Videos

Place value activity 25. rainbow place value.

Written By: Christopher Olson

Welcome! I’m Emily, Founder of Education to the Core. We are all about helping K-2 teachers by providing unlimited access to affordable printables for every subject area.   

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20+ Hands-on Ways to Teach Place Value

• November 27, 2017
• Homeschool , Late Elementary , Math

Teach place value, numbers, decimals, and greater than/less than with these hands on elementary math activities! Use printables, manipulatives, and more!

Place Value War – Childhood 101

Start a war – a place value war!

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Anchor Charts

• Math Anchor Charts
• Place Value

Teaching Place Value

By Mary Montero

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A few weeks ago, I asked my Facebook followers about the very first thing they taught in math at the beginning of the school year.  All but one or two people said PLACE VALUE!  I looked back at my blog and couldn’t believe it when I realized I had never blogged about a few of the activities I do when teaching place value.  I suppose it’s because it has always been at the beginning of the year, and things just tend to get lost in the shuffle in the craziness that is the beginning of the year.

So, without further ado, I’m sharing a few activities we have done over the years.  I’m going to let the pictures do most of the talking since I tend to get a little wordy! (Be sure to read to the bottom of the post for great ideas from my Facebook followers, too.)

We started with an anchor chart (shocking, right?!).  I prep this chart ahead of time since there are so many straight lines involved.

Here is what the place value anchor chart looks like when we are done.

Place Value Notebook Pages

One of the first math notebook entries we do is on Place Value (right after the ten commandments of math ). I spruced my notebook template up this year to offer to you for FREE HERE !

You can see that the notebook entry very closely follows my anchor chart that I make with the class. We have really focused in on the difference between PLACE and VALUE.  This is crucial with this age level, as they truly have to understand the difference.

Update: Here is my most recent version of the place value anchor chart and focus board!  It also includes questions that I’ve asked my students in relation to place value as well as several of my  place value task cards for students to work through. You can get the templates for the anchor chart free  HERE , but please make sure you only use this as a template only and fill in the content actively with you students.

Place Value Activities

Difference between PLACE and VALUE: I also created a free activity called The Place Value Park that kids LOVE, and it is purely intended to review the difference between place and value.  They draw a picture based on several tasks that relate to place and value.  Because everyone uses numbers that are individual to themselves, their pictures all come out unique.  This is a beloved activity every single year!

Place Value Discs: This hands-on activity really encourages your students to think critically about place value, the difference between value and quantity, and the different ways to write a number. First, you will need a set of disks. I purchased these disks on Amazon (click  HERE  for an affiliate link if you’d like to purchase them), but I also included some printable “disks” at the end of the file if you don’t want to purchase them! I took out the 1,000,000 disks since I was working with 3rd graders, but you can always leave them in to meet the needs of your students.

Exit Tickets: After we have done our first few lessons, I do a little bit of a place value exit ticket type check. This is the left hand side “output” assignment for their notebooks.  Kids love it, and it’s an easy way for me to see if they grasped the concept I just taught them.  For the Base Ten Model of this large number, I explain it to them, BUT I don’t make them draw it out.  Instead, I have them split their 6-digit number into two smaller 3-digit numbers and represent it that way. You can grab the three pages I used in the notebook for free HERE!

Pattern Block Pictures: We also use pattern blocks to practice. Students create a picture and then solve place value tasks related to their art. You can download this FREE sheet here .

Cooperative Activity: Next, we move on to one of my favorite group place value activities called Candy Rush !  I created this back when I was student teaching and have used it every year since.  My kids just LOVE it. Basically, each student gets a bag of candy (I used to give them actual candy, but now I just use the included printable bags of candy) and finds the value of their bag of candy.

Then, they get into groups and compile their information into a chart and answer questions about all of their candy values.  It really helps students understand the difference between PLACE and VALUE because they see that even though one student has 29 pieces of candy, they may have the lowest value because of the types of candy they had.  They all have those lightbulb moments during this activity that I just LOVE!

I really tried to make the questions reflective so that they could draw connections.  Of course, there is plenty of other math practice included, too!   You can grab the activity HERE .

You can grab a variety of these place value activities and more in this bundle !

Place Value Task Cards

As always, task cards play a big role in our math practice. I use this bundle of task cards throughout out unit to practice a variety of place value skills. If you print the task cards with four to a page, they make great practice booklets!

Place Value Math Project

When I feel like they are fairly solid in their understanding of these skills after the group activity, we get busy with my very favorite Math Project of the year, Place Value Detectives .  I still remember the exact moment I came up with this project, and it was like a lightbulb turned on.  It has been a huge hit with students, and I love the way it makes them really think critically about place value.

I have differentiated the project so that it meets the needs of students in grades 2-5, although it’s best suited for grades 3+ since there is a lot of critical thinking and problem solving involved.  It covers all the standards, including expanded form, word form, rounding, comparing, and more! There’s a sheet where students can keep track of completed activities.

This is one of my favorite pages.  It has students figuring out how grades were changed in a jumbled grade book to solve the mystery of the School Supply Stealer using their clues.

Here is one of the challenge/enrichment differentiated place value pages!  The kids LOVE figuring out the ages of the family and deciding who is tampering with the trash cans.

Place Value Extensions

I was working with a group of second graders who were well above grade level.  They really needed something that would challenge their thinking and also be a quick review of base ten place value models, so I created these Mystery Number Place Value Challenges .  They were GLUED to them, and it was so much fun watching them work with the manipulatives to solve the problems. 

Although I’m not one for “tricks” and I always teach my kids how to use a number line to round numbers, I always LOVE to show them this fun balloon rounding reminder. When you hold the balloon and let go of 1, 2, 3, or even 4 fingers, the balloon stays right where it is.  if you let go of 5 fingers, though, what happens? THE BALLOON GOES UP!  Just like in rounding.  They LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this analogy and our silly little saying that goes with it.  Again, we definitely still teach them with a number line so that they understand conceptually what they are doing, but this is a great rounding trick for those visual kids.

Free Place Value Assessment

After we work through the place value project and the candy rush activity, I feel like my students have a good understanding of place value skills.  We culminate the unit with a review and/or quiz, which is FREE on my TpT store.  I do not  give all of the pages to all of the kids, especially at one time.  I use it as homework throughout the unit or give one or two pages to each student to complete as a quiz at the end, depending on their skill level. You can download this FREE Place Value packet at my TpT store!

More Place Value Activity Ideas

I also asked some of my Facebook fans what their favorite place value activities are.  If you are looking for an amazingly supportive group of fellow teachers, please consider joining us over at Inspired in Upper Elementary , a teaching Facebook group!  Here are some of their excellent ideas for teaching place value!

• “I enjoy giving my kids opportunities to move! I give them a number that is identified as ones, tens, or hundreds. I say a number out loud and together, without talking, they have to move around the room to find their partners that will make that number” -Michelle Q.
• “ Roll dice to make a 2 or 3 digit number. Then show that number in 4 different ways: expanded form, word form, number form and with base tens.”- Beth G.
• “I  have the students get in groups and look at the 2010 population census and pick 5 countries and record their population, from there they make a place value chart and write the numbers in expanded, standard, and word form and order them from least to greatest. From there, we use a classroom number line and place the countries and their populations on it. After that we review the number line and apply our data analysis by seeing what number was most frequent, less frequent, etc…helps with real world application.”- Morgan C.
• “ Used base ten blocks today to teach writing numbers in expanded form. It was awesome to see their faces light when the finally made the connection that (2 x 100) = 200 because it’s two groups of 100 units! Best lesson so far this year”-Christi W.
• “ I like to have the kids make place value pictures. They use hundreds, tens, and ones to make a picture then they have to show their number.”-Claudia C.
• “ We integrate social studies by having the students use an atlas to locate various countries in the world and identify the population and land area. We compare and order the numbers as well as write them in word form and expanded form. We will also have the students brainstorm as to why certain countries have a higher population than others and if there is a correlation between land area and population.”-Angie L.
• “ Place value Bingo. Students have a certain # of places to write a number. They write a number. Then call out digits & place value positions until they call bingo. Students also have to read the number out loud as well as go over digits/ place values called.”-Margaret K.
• “ As we progress through our work w/ place value, students will partner up & play “war” trying to create the largest, smallest, put them in a certain order the fastest, etc.”-Staci T.
• “ Number top it. Place value game with playing cards…players must build the largest number they can by picking cards. To win the just have the largest number and read it properly 2 different ways!”- Kerry O.
• “ We also do the secret number game. I also like to give the kids cards with digits, say the number and then they have to get themselves in the right order.”-Jenneth S.
• “ I love to post various 4-6 digit numbers around the room and play “I spy”-Samantha K.
• “ My students love “The Secret Number Game.” It is played like this: –Place lines on the board or have your students put them on their whiteboards. Then give the clues. (You can also make these on paper. Kids even love to write them, teacher can type them, and they can be given to the whole class.) ____ ____ , ____ ____ ____ The digit in the thousands place is the number of tentacles on an octopus. The digit in the ones place is the number of legs on a cat. The digit in the hundreds place is the number of arms on a starfish. The digit in the thousands place is the sum of 6 + 2. The digit in the tens place is the difference of 18-9. What is my secret number? Say it!! “-Stacy P.
• “   I do an outdoor PE game. Two teams of students, red rover style. Each student on the line gets a digit 0-9 (some students have partners). I call out a large number (i.e. 68,709) and students with those digits have to run to the other side and line up in the correct order. First team to correctly display the number called wins a point! They love it!! “-Ashly R.
• “   I play a game with my students in which I tell them how many digits and they set up their spaces. Then I tell them, “There is a 4 in the thousands place, a 6 in the hundred thousands place, etc.” (out of order) until we have built the number. If theirs matches mine, they get a point. Depending on the level of the students, I will make it more challenging by not repeating a clue or going faster, or make it easier by repeating clues or using fewer digits.”- Laura H.
• “ I also have them line up in order from ones to millions while holding cards. The other students are able to see quickly whether the students are in the correct order and we use cards with commas as well to help reinforce the periods.”-Tracy Y.
• “ Place value people: Give a group of students one digit each and have them stand at the front of the class. Insert “people commas” as needed, depending on the size of the number. Identify one person in the group; the rest of the class must write the place and place value of the digit. Use your favorite method for choosing a student to tell the answers. If the student is correct, he/she gets to replace that person and be a new digit in the number. “-Donna G.

Happy teaching! Feel free to share your best place value idea or blog post in the comments!

Mary Montero

I’m so glad you are here. I’m a current gifted and talented teacher in a small town in Colorado, and I’ve been in education since 2009. My passion (other than my family and cookies) is for making teachers’ lives easier and classrooms more engaging.

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18 Comments

This was an awesome post! I teach 3rd grade and the first topic I teach in math is place value also! Thanks for so many great ideas and resources!

These ideas are wonderful! I teach 5th grade and we start with place value as well. I am always needing new ideas and activities that allow the students to move about the classroom. Thank you!

Wonderful ideas!! Thanks for sharing! We start place value tomorrow!

Rachel A Tall Drink of Water

These are such great ideas! Just what I was looking for! Thank you! 🙂

Great pages! I tried getting the free place value pages to print, but they wouldn't. 🙁

The journal freebies are great! Very student friendly. Thanks for your post and all the great ideas!

I'm looking forward to incorporating this anchor chart and set of foldables into our first week activities. Thanks!

This might be a bit bold, but what other lessons do you use in your notebook? I love your ideas and would love to use them too!!

it is not viewed as an extravagance to take your kid for best writing service on google advanced education like it has been some time recently. Doubtlessly the 21st century employments oblige.

I love the anchor chart. I totally just adapted this for my first graders. We are teaching expanded form and the curriculum doesn't really explain to them enough about the basics of place value and the kiddos are struggling with it. I plan on using this chart with them for our reteach day!

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So many grwat ideas. Thanks! I git the olace vakue detective s and look forward to using it in just a few weeks.

I love this…thank you!! These are going to be the first things in our Math notebooks. Question…does anything go until the place value chart or is it there for reference only? Thanks again for sharing.

So glad you found some idea! Yes, under the place value chart, we write wide variety of numbers in each of the value and read them as a class together.

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Home » Blog Posts » Math & Technology » Fun Ideas to Teach Place Value to 3rd Graders

Fun Ideas to Teach Place Value to 3rd Graders

Is it possible to make place value fun in the classroom or homeschool? Absolutely! This post shows you effective and fun ideas to teach place value to 3rd-graders. Each idea is easy to implement and can be used for in-class or distance learning.

PLUS you can grab a FREE place value activity at the end of this post.

Welcome to March Math-ness!! For the next few weeks, you can enter to win $100 TPT gift card, grab up to 15 FREE math resources + score amazing deals on engaging math activities. Read this post, then click the March Math-ness image at the end of the post for all the details.

*This post contains affiliate links to Amazon for your convenience. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, which do not cost any extra for you. Please see the  full disclosure here. *

How Do You Make Place Value Fun?

Place value is not an easy concept to grasp! The abstract representation of numbers can make math frustrating.

So how in the world can teachers present this topic without boring students to tears?

Well here are some general ideas to jazz up your place value lessons for third graders:

• Use lots of visuals! Since the value of each digit depends on its position, students really need to SEE the numbers in more visual forms in order to understand it.
• Incorporate music and movement with your place value lessons. Whether you are teaching virtually or in the classroom, research shows how powerful music and movement are in keeping students engaged.
• Allow students to use manipulatives when learning place value. In addition to music, hands-on learning is also a wonderful way to get students more involved in the lesson. This is no exception when it comes to making place value fun.

Now that we’ve looked at overall ways to spice up your math lessons, let’s dig even deeper into fun ideas to teach place value to in 3rd grade.

Solve Math Riddles that Incorporate Mental Math

The first fresh idea on the list involves solving riddles! Once you’ve shown the visuals and used hands-on manipulatives, you can challenge your 3rd graders to crack place value riddles.

These place value riddles can be combined with hundreds-charts to give students practice with:

• mental math
• expanded form and word form of numbers
• reading and writing numbers within 1,000
• skip counting by 5s, 10s, 100s within 1,000

Not only does the riddle format keep kids intrigued to find the answer, but they also have QR Codes attached that makes it super quick and easy to check for the answer.

You can increase the fun factor even more by giving students magnifying glasses or other accessories that make them feel like detectives solving a mystery case!

It’s a win-win place value activity whether you’re using them as a math center idea in the classroom or as a digital activity for remote learning.

Sing Songs that Teach Place Value to 3rd Graders

Remember when I talked about using music and movement! Well, I’m saying it again. 🤗

A very fun way to teach place value to 3rd grade is through rap songs, School House Rock tunes, and other engaging place value songs that students can sing along too!

This video is just one example. There are several more songs related to place value than this on YouTube. Please don’t think that third graders are too old for singing in class. The repetition teaches them important nuggets about place value that sticks in their minds even after the song is played.

Plus, students appreciate having a way to learn place value through something other than a worksheet!

Play a Review Game Using Plickers

The third easy and fun way to practice place value with your 3rd grade students is to use the FREE online tool Plickers for review and exit tickets.

I love how easy it is to use Plickers in the classroom, and how versatile they are for just about any math lesson.

If you don’t know what Plickers are, I have detailed posts on what they are, how to use them in your classroom, and how NOT to use them!

• Ways to Use Plickers in Your Classroom
• 5 Ways Teachers Use Plickers Incorrectly in the Classroom

For your place value lessons, you can display images and place value charts on your classroom’s projector display. Students will participate in the lesson by holding up their Plicker to each question.

I recommend laminating your Plickers and glueing them to large popsicle sticks, which will make them much easier to spray or wipe down for sanitation.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Complete a Place Value “I Spy” Game

Another fun way to teach place value to 3rd grade is to play a place value “I Spy” game!

This activity works in the classroom or at home through distance learning.

In order to connect it with the traditional “I Spy” game, you could begin each statement or question with “I Spy with my little eye…”

Then present students with challenges to find such as:

• A 3-digit number with 8 in the tens place
• Numbers that have 6 ones
• 4 hundreds are in this number

Your students can use magazines, books, posters around the classroom, things at home to find numbers that match what you are challenging them to “spy.”

This type of place value activity keeps students engaged because it’s exciting. Plus it gets them involved with critical thinking while learning math.

Read Place Value Themed Books

Storytelling is powerful!

Don’t assume that math and reading can’t compliment one another. In fact, I LOVE using math read-alouds as lesson hooks or warm-ups to introduce concepts.

One of my favorite place value picture books is A Place for Zero by  Angeline Sparagna LoPresti .

This adorable story follows the character Zero around a town called Digitaria. He wants to fit in with the other numbers and play a game called Addeum.

Not only does it help students understand place value, but this books also makes a really good introduction to multiplication.

Don’t just take my word for it! This Amazon reviewer called it a “Superb Explanation of Place Value and the Significance of Zero.”

What is the Easiest Way to Teach Place Value?

What makes teaching place value to 3rd graders hard? There’s no “one-size-fits-all-lesson” that resonates with every single student at the same time!

However, with this math concept, visuals are your best friend!

Upper elementary students need lots of help SEEING what the numbers represent. The easiest way to teach place value is with models that help student see number representation.

Place value charts with base ten models are my favorite.

They allow students to build concrete examples of the numbers. When teaching place value, I have students build several examples before we ever write anything.

Lots of visuals with lots of practice helps students BIG time.

Plus, hands-on learning keeps students engaged. AND there’s no copying or grading you need to complete for this math activity.

I have several recommendations of place value sets–along with other math goodies–in my Amazon storefront here in the list “Math Accessories and Supplies.”

More Engaging Ways to Teach Place Value to Upper Elementary

Although the ideas shared above are geared towards 3rd graders, they can also help 4th and 5th graders.

In fact, I like to add an extra twist to certain place value activities for older kids. For example, using SCOOT game boards with place value task cards is a great way to keep students engaged and moving while learning.

Not only that, but playing place value SCOOT can be a fun way to review difficult concepts with your students.

Just in case you’re not familiar with SCOOT, here’s the quick explanation:

• Put one task card on each desk.
• Give every student a SCOOT page and tell them to complete the task card on their desk first.
• Then students will rotate from desk to desk–leaving each task card, but taking their SCOOT page with them.

Once they’ve finished each task card, you can go over the correct answers as a whole class.

As you can see from the example image above, SCOOT works very well with place value models using images of base ten blocks.

Another FUN Way to Review Place Value with Your Students

In addition to SCOOT games, I also recommend place value color-by-number worksheets.

Now before you think that coloring isn’t rigorous enough for upper elementary students, let me explain.

Students can work with a partner to solve different place value problems. Then based on their correct answers, they will have the “code” or number to complete the coloring sheet.

It’s a win-win because not only is it fun for the kids to complete, but you don’t have to spend a lot of time grading these. Students must get the correct answer to color the sheet anyway, so one quick glance will let you know whether an answer is correct or not.

FREE Place Value Learning Activity

Now that you have some fresh ideas on how to teach place value to 3rd graders, you can grab some freebies to use in your classroom.

This place value freebie teaches students more about important vocabulary such as:

• place value chart
• standard form
• expanded form
• greater than
• place value

Not only will this strengthen your students’ understanding of place value in general, but it’s also fun!

In addition to this freebie, I have more posts with helpful tips for you teacher friend:

• Teaching Multiplication Through Distance Learning
• 3rd Grade Literacy Center Ideas
• The BEST Math Read Alouds Books Ever

Happy Place Value Teaching 🦋

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10 Simple Place Value Games (KS1 & KS2) To Make Your Maths Lessons Fun And Effective

Alexander Athienitis

At the start of the new academic year, many of us are on the look out for some new place value games and activities for those first KS1 and KS2 maths lessons.

But these sorts of place value games are no good unless they’re actually effective at moving pupils’ knowledge of place value forward. After all, place value as we all know is the foundation stone of the rest of the KS1 and KS2 maths curriculum.

Place Value Game #1: Sorting and Matching

Place value game #2: odd one out, place value game #3: classroom birthdays, place value game #4: the ten-sided dice rounding game.

• Place Value Game #5: It’s Time To Use The Hula Hoops!

Place Value Game #6: Line-Up

Place value game #7: passing practice, place value game #8: football kit – roman numeral swaps, place value game #9: delightful darts, place value game #10: round the dice.

So, Third Space Learning is here to help.

Here are 10 of our favourite fun place value maths games and activities (KS1 & KS2), whether your pupils are at the early stage of understanding place value in Year 1 or moving on to positive and negative numbers in Year 6. (We even cover Roman Numerals!)

They also make use of many different manipulatives and ideas to give a bit more variety, beyond just using arrow cards or base ten blocks.

They’re all extremely simple to explain and manage in class and most can be adapted as appropriate to your year group. We’ve included a free place value printable download of all the games to save time.

We also have a collection of free place value worksheets for you to use with your class – not every lesson can be a game after all!

Free Download - Place Value Games

This free PDF is packed with the games discussed in this blog and presented in and easy to read (and share) format! All of the games are in here, so all that is left for you to do is download and play!

This sorting and matching place value activity is perfect for KS1 pupils, particularly Year 1. 

It’s always good to start off with maths manipulatives to introduce any unit of work – and this one is no different!

The first step is to dig the multi-link cubes out of the cupboard, and after this, ask the children to make sticks of cubes of varying length – from one cube up to ten cubes long. You can then ask the children to arrange the sticks from smallest to largest.

Next, ask the children to step back from the table. Jumble up the sticks and mix in some Numicon shapes (or bags with varying amounts of counters/dienes in them).

Now, it’s time for the children to match the various representations of numbers with its corresponding mathematical representation. You could ask them to do this, or simply tell them to match the various objects as they wish (they might match a stick of six green multi-link cubes with the Numicon shape for eight, because they’re both green).

Depending on how your pupils group the various objects will give you a good indication of any gaps in maths that may need to be filled.

Place value activities – Extension task for Sorting and Matching

To really test the children you could ask them to then sort the numbers into two groups: odd numbers and even numbers. (Using numicon shapes makes it much easier for children to visualise and identify odd numbers.)

This KS1 place value game is great for Year 2 but should be played with some tact, especially with younger pupils!

Firstly, arrange the children into groups of various sizes – a group of four, a group of five, a group of seven, a group of eight…

Ask them to count how many people are in their group, and then count how many people are in the other groups too.

Next, ask each group to sit down in a line in pairs (you could make it a race – which group can sit down the quickest?). Ask the children: can you notice a problem for any of our groups’ lines?

Then ask the children to count out the number of children in the groups that have an ‘odd one out’. Hopefully they will notice that the groups of four, six and eight are sat in perfect pairs, but the groups of three, five and seven have an extra person each time. You could reinforce the point by representing the number in each group with a Numicon shape.

This is a simple yet effective Year 1/Year 2 interactive place value game, giving pupils a chance to interact with their classmates whilst learning.

Looking for fun games and activities to boost pupils’ learning? We’ve got several articles sharing teacher approved maths activities and fun maths games , including KS2 maths games , KS1 maths games and KS3 maths games for all maths topics and a set of 35 times tables games and multiplication games you’ll want to bookmark whichever year group you teach!

A number most, if not all, children manage to remember, birthdays are an obvious cue for more place value activities , especially those that ask pupils to order numbers.

This activity begins by splitting the class into equal groups or teams. Start by asking the children which month they were born in and equating that month to its number value: January is 1, February is 2 and so on.

Then ask the children to tell the other people in their group when they were born – they could even write out their date of birth in its numerical form. For example, 1/11/2015. You could ask the children to group themselves into children who were born in an odd-numbered year and even-numbered year, odd-numbered months and even-numbered months, then on odd-numbered days and even-numbered days. Depending on the depth you are going into with regards to properties of number with your class, they could organise themselves into those whose months or day numbers fall into certain times tables, or other number properties, like square, cube or prime numbers. Next, you could get the groups to organise themselves in age order, from youngest to oldest (call it a race to speed them up). Then, finally have the whole class come together and – using the knowledge from each group – sort themselves into age order!

This is one place value game that will be relevant year after year and can be used across primary school in KS1 and KS2!

This sort of simple dice-based place value game is great for Year 1, and can be modified and extended for use with older KS1 and KS2 pupils. 

If you don’t already have ten-sided dice it could be a smart purchase as they can be handy at different points throughout the year (especially for random number generation).

The first step in this place-value activity is to split the children into pairs or triplets.

If they’re in a pair, one child gets a point each time 1, 2, 3, 4 or 10 is rolled (as they’re the ‘rounding down’ person), the other child gets a point each time 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 is rolled (they’ll be the ‘rounding up’ person).

If there are three children instead of two, the third can be the score-keeper or referee and then they can rotate the roles.

Have the children roll the die and write down each time someone gets a point. Do this ten times; get the most and you’ve won.

Place Value Game #5: It’s Time To Use The Hula Hoops!

The following lower Key Stage 2 activity could be used as a Year 3 or Year 4 place value starter, an active maths break, or a fantastic warm-up at the beginning of a PE session. Split the class into teams of ten. Give each child a post-it note displaying the number they will represent.

On each side of the classroom, PE hall or playground, set up three or four hula hoops for each team. Each hoop will represent a place value column: thousands, hundreds, tens and ones.

Give the children a spoken instruction. For example: Show me 359. The children then race to make the correct number (i.e. 359 in this case) quicker than the other team(s).

Hula hoop place value activity – Extension task

For an extra challenge, increase the hoops and complexity of the columns – both whole numbers and decimals. Once children are comfortable with three-digit numbers, you could introduce 4-digit numbers, for example.

For differentiation purposes, you could choose to use a more confident mathematician as a coach/captain, sat in place representing the decimal point.

This is the perfect place value game for Year 3, Year 2 or Year 1 pupils as everyone gets a chance to join in.

Purely for organisational purposes this place value game is likely best for Year 4, 5 or 6.

For the next activity, we suggest starting by splitting teams into equal groups. The next thing to do is to stick a post-it note with a number on the back of each child.

The children will need to read the number that each of their teammates has on their back to the rest of their group, until everyone knows what is written on their post-it note. You could alternate between numerical representations and numbers written out in their worded form.

Then, it is a race as a team to organise themselves in a number line from smallest to largest, according to the numbers they have been assigned.

You can enlarge the teams or use more and larger numbers to add extra challenge. We love this idea for ordering, so expect to see variations of it cropping up in other blog posts!

Best for Year 2 or 3, and especially good for the sort of stealthy outdoor maths activity you can sneak in as part of a PE or general outdoors session.

Using cones from the PE cupboard, set up two or more sets of three goals. Each goal will only need two cones – each cone being a goal post – and each goal will represent a place value column: ones, tens, hundreds…)

Now give each group or team a number to achieve. For example, if the given number is 385, they would need to pass the ball through the ones goal five times, then the tens goal eight times and, finally, the hundreds goal three times.

Again, the game could be easily turned into a competition by pitting teams against each other to add some pace. It is also very easily adaptable; 2-digit numbers could be used with less able pupils, 3-digit numbers with more able pupils and so on.

We’ve done the hard work for you on this one and created some templates for this printable place value game for Year 6

T ake a look below for the football kit templates with shirt numbers in Roman Numeral format. (If you have a class with split footballing loyalties, there is always the option to get them to colour in the shirts in their favourite teams’ colours.) We’ve left a few empty shirts for you to use as you wish!

One child should be holding the Roman Numeral football kit cards, the other should have cards or pieces of paper with a member of their favourite football team’s squad on each card or piece of paper.

For this example we will use the heroic England squad from the 2018 World Cup. (Keen to relive those days? Take a look at our World Cup Maths Activities .) 

The task here is for children to swap or match each Roman Numeral card with a player’s card with the corresponding squad number. You could challenge pairs or groups of children to match their cards, then order them from smallest to largest the fastest! (You could extend the task by asking the children to sort them in other ways too: odds and evens; square numbers; prime numbers; cube numbers.)

We recommend a magnetic dart board for this place value game for upper KS2; of course it works as well with real darts but they bring their own challenges to a group of Year 5 and Year 6.

The range of place value challenges you can set with a dart board – real or printable – are almost limitless. It’s also a great way to practise other number facts and mental maths strategies or when teaching times tables . 

Here are some ideas:

• You could ask the children to work their way around the game board in either an ascending or descending order.
• You could set them individual challenges: your next dart must have an odd value; your next throw must have a single digit value; your next throw must stick in a two-digit value area; your next throw must end in a prime number value area or have the factors 4 and 8.

It’s also a great opportunity for the children to practice their mental addition skills, two and three times tables – they need to be able to multiply by three to hit the magic 180!

Another simple dice-based place value game about rounding numbers, this time tailored towards Year 2 and up! Children can roll the dice and record results as many times as you decide, but we recommend 5 or 10 rolls. 

Pair off the class and provide each pair with their own pair of dice.

Children should roll the dice and see which two numbers land face up e.g. 3 and 5. From these two single digits, they can make two double digit numbers – in this case 35 and 53.

Have the children record their rolls, the resulting double digit numbers and what they round to, then have them roll again.

Some key questions:

• What numbers can you make?
• Will the two digit numbers round up or down?
• EXTENSION: Will any pair of double digit numbers ever round to the same multiple of ten (e.g. both round to 30). When does this happen?

More place value games and activit y ideas

All of the place value games above can be adapted to suit the ages and abilities of children in your class. And by using them as a way into the subject, you’ll find your pupils will be better able to create links between abstract numbers and real world scenarios.

Place value confidence is a crucial step in helping children to visualise number more clearly and partition mentally with greater success, as well as laying the foundations for improving mental strategies increasing the speed of mental calculations too.

It’s no surprise that our place value lessons are always the most popular starting point teachers choose for pupils receiving our online maths tuition and many of the primary maths strategies we use start with embedding this concept.

If you’re teaching place value to Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 or Year 6 this year, you’ll want to read our new Guide To Teaching Place Value At KS2 – it breaks down step by step the theory and practice of achieving mastery in this foundational concept.

• The Best Multiplication Games To Play At KS1 & KS2 For Classroom Engagement
• How To Teach Place Value in Year 5 and 6 For Small Group KS2 Interventions
• The Best Place Value Grid Ever : Your Printable Place Value Chart For KS1 and KS2 (With Decimals!)
• Guide to Place Value Learning Objectives in the KS1 and KS2 National Curriculum
• For Year 5 and Year 6: 75 SATs style questions on Place Value, Fractions, Addition and Subtraction
• What is Place Value? Explained for Parents and Children

DO YOU HAVE STUDENTS WHO NEED MORE SUPPORT IN MATHS?

Every week Third Space Learning’s specialist school tutors support thousands of students across hundreds of schools with weekly online 1 to 1 maths lessons designed to plug gaps and boost progress.

Since 2013 these personalised one to one lessons have helped over 150,000 primary and secondary students become more confident, able mathematicians.

Learn how tutors build rapport or request a personalised quote for your school to speak to us about your school’s needs and how we can help.

Related articles

Free Place Value Worksheets By Year Group And Topic

Teaching Place Value KS2: A Guide For Primary School Teachers From Year 3 To Year 6

What Is Place Value? Explained For Primary School

Quick Guide To Place Value In KS1 And KS2: Learning Objectives From The National Curriculum

FREE Place Value Ready-to-go Lessons & Worksheets (Years 1 to 6)

Use these Ready-to-go PowerPoints and worksheets to teach your Year 1 to Year 6 children place value following the White Rose scheme of learning.

The PowerPoints are fully editable to allow you to adapt the learning to your class and are designed to be SEND friendly with an off-white background and dyslexia friendly font.

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Place Value Worksheets Hub Page

Welcome to our Place Value Worksheets area.

Here you will find a wide range of place value activites and worksheets which will help your child gain a better understanding of how our number system and place value works.

You can also take a look at our printable place value charts or our place value sheets with decimals or BIG numbers over a million!

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• This page contains links to other Math webpages where you will find a range of activities and resources.
• If you can't find what you are looking for, try searching the site using the Google search box at the top of each page.

Place Value Worksheets and Resources

On this page you will find link to our range of place value resources, including online practice, charts and worksheets.

Quicklinks to Place Value ...

• Online Place Value Practice
• Place Value Charts and Number Grids
• Place Value Tens and Ones

Place Value up to Hundreds

Place value up to thousands.

• Big Number Place Value
• Negative Number Place Value
• Decimal Place Value
• Randomly Generated Place Vaue Worksheets

Scientific Notation Support

• Absolute Value Worksheets

Definition of Place Value

So what exactly is place value?

Place value refers to the value of the digits in any given number. In the number 482 for example, the value of the digit '8' is 80 and the value of the digit '4' is 400.

At a more advanced level, in the number 36.57, the value of the digit '5' is 0.5 and the value of the digit '7' is 0.07.

In our number system, each time you move a place to the right, the value of the digit gets ten times bigger. Each time you move a place to the left, the value of the digit gets ten times smaller.

• Definition of Place Value Sheet
• PDF version

Place Value Learning

Children start their learning journey in Math when they start to count. When they are confindent counting small groups of objects and getting beyond 10, they then begin to develop their understanding of place value up to 100 and beyond.

When they have understood how place value with whole numbers works, they can start learning about place value with decimals.

Our selection of free math place value worksheets has been split into different areas below so that you can more easily find the right sheet for your child.

Online Place Value Practice Zone

In our Math Place Value Practice area, you can practice your place value skills, adding thousands, hundreds, tens and ones. You can even use this area for adding on decimals: tenths and hundredths.

You can select the numbers you want to practice with, and print out your results when you have finished.

You can also use the practice zone for benchmarking your performance, or using it with a group of children to gauge progress.

• Free Place Value Practice Zone 1 - Digit Values
• Math Place Value Practice Zone 2 - Combining

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Place Value Charts & Number Grids

Place value charts.

We have a selection of place value charts which are great for helping to develop understanding of place value.

The charts cover a range of numbers from billions to millionths.

They are a good supporting resource for children who are finding place value difficult.

We also have place value grids to help children convert to and from expanded form to support place value learning.

They are also a good way to get children to become familiar with how the number system works.

• Place Value Charts (whole numbers)
• Decimal Place Value Charts
• Place Value Grids

Number Grids

These printable grids will help your child learn to read and write numbers and learn the number sequence.

Some of the charts are partially filled to help your child learn their place value.

Using these sheets will help your child to:

• learn to count in tens and ones;
• learn to read and write numbers.

1st Grade Place Value Charts

• Free Number Chart 1-30
• Number Chart to 50
• Printable Number Charts 0-99
• Hundred Number Charts (100 Squares)
• Missing Number Chart 1-100
• Number Grid up to 200
• Number Grid up to 300

Place Value Games

Here you will find our selection of place value games.

We have a range of different games for helping to teach place value from 2-digit games up to decimal place value games.

There are a range of games are suitable for all ages, from kindergarten and upwards.

• Games to teach Place Value

Place Value and Number Sense Tens and Ones

Here you will find our selection of 2 digit Place Value worksheets.

Using these Math Worksheets Place Value will help your child to:

• learn their place value to 100;
• understand the value of each digit in a 2 digit number;
• Round numbers up to 100 to the nearest 10
• learn to read and write numbers to 100.
• Place Value Worksheets for Kindergarten
• Place Value to 20 Worksheets
• Place Value Ones and Tens Models
• Place Value Tens and Ones (standard and expanded form)
• Basic Math Worksheets - Ordering numbers 2 Digits
• Rounding to the nearest 10 Worksheets
• Add and Subtract 10 Worksheets

Here you will find our selection of 3 digit Place Value worksheets.

• learn their place value with 3 digit numbers;
• understand the value of each digit in a 3 digit number;
• learn to read and write numbers up to 999.
• 2nd Grade Place Value Models up to hundreds
• Second Grade Place Value Worksheets 3 Digits
• Ordering numbers worksheets up to 999

Here you will find our selection of Place Value up to 4 Digits worksheets.

Using these sheets will help your child learn to:

• learn their place value with 4 digit numbers;
• use place value models to understand how to combine thousands, hundreds, tens and ones;
• understand the value of each digit in a 4 digit number;
• learn to use standard and expanded form with 4 digit numbers.
• Place Value Models 4 Digits
• Place Value 4 Digit Numbers Worksheets (conversion)
• Ordering Numbers up to Thousands Sheets

Place Value BIG Numbers

Welcome to our BIG Number Place Value area.

Here you will find sheets to help your child learn their place value to 10 million.

• Know how to read and write numbers to 10 million;
• Understand place value to 10 million.
• Solve place value problems.

All the 4th grade math worksheets in this section support elementary math benchmarks.

• 4th Grade Place Value up to 6 digits
• 5th Grade Place Value Worksheets to 10 million
• 5th Grade Ordering Large Numbers up to 100 million

Place Value Negative Numbers

• learn to order negative numbers;
• learn to position numbers from -10 to 10 on a number line.
• ordering and comparing rational numbers
• Ordering Negative Numbers -10 to 10
• Ordering and Comparing Rational Numbers

Place Value Decimals

Here you will find our selection of Place Value involving Decimals with up to 2 decimal places (2dp).

• learn their place value with decimals up to 2dp;
• understand the value of each digit in a decimal number;
• learn to read and write numbers with up to 2dp.
• Decimal Place Value Worksheets to 2dp
• Place Value to 3dp
• Ordering Decimals Worksheets

Rounding Numbers Worsheets

As well as our random number worksheet generator, we have a wide range of graded rounding worsheets.

These sheets are great for supporting less able students, or for giving an extra challenge to more able students.

Using the link below will take you to our Rounding numbers hub page where you will find links to all our rounding numbers worksheets.

• Rounding Numbers Hub page

Place Value Random Worksheet Generator

Here is our generator for generating your own place value worksheets.

Our generator will create the following worksheets:

• digit values
• comparing numbers
• converting between standard and expanded form

These sheets involve saying the value of the underlined digit.

• Digit Place Value Worksheets
• Standard Form to Expanded Form Worksheets
• Expanded Form to Standard Form Worksheets
• Rounding Off Numbers Worksheets
• Greater Than Less Than Worksheets

We have a selection of worksheets designed to help students learn about asbolute value.

Topics covered include:

• absolute value and opposite numbers
• comparing absolute values
• absolute value arithmetic
• solving absolute value equations

Our Convert to scientific notation calculator will take a number and convert it to scientific notation and e-notation.

It shows you all the working out along the way too.

• Convert to Scientific Notation Calculator
• Standard Notation to Scientific Notation Support page
• Scientific Notation to Standard Notation support page

How to Print or Save these sheets 🖶

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Place Value Worksheets

And base 10 blocks.

Our place value worksheets focus on deepening a student's understanding of our base 10 system. In our " base 10 blocks " worksheets, students manipulate blocks (units of 1) and rods (groups of 10) to build, deconstruct or add numbers. Later worksheets focus on building or de-constructing multi-digit numbers.

Choose your grade / topic:

Grade 1: Base 10 blocks worksheets

Grade 1: Place value worksheets

Grade 2: Place value worksheets

Grade 3: Place value worksheets

Grade 4: Place value worksheets

Grade 5: Place value worksheets

Topics include:

Grade 1 base 10 blocks worksheets

• Counting and making 10 with ten frames
• Regrouping unit blocks into blocks of 10 ("rods")
• Counting "tens" and "ones"
• Breaking a number (11-99) into rods ("tens") and  blocks ("ones")
• Adding 2 digit numbers with base 10 blocks

Grade 1 place value worksheets

• Identifying tens and ones from 2 digit numbers
• Combining tens and ones into 2 digit numbers
• Identifying a digit's place value (tens, ones)
• Building a 2 digit number with missing addends
• Write 2 digit numbers in expanded form
• Write 2 digit numbers in normal form

Grade 2 place value worksheets

• Building a 3-digit number from the parts
• Missing place values in 3-digit numbers
• Write 3-digit numbers in expanded form
• Write 3-digit numbers in normal form
• Hundreds, tens & ones - identify the underlined digit
• Comparing and ordering numbers up to 100 and 1,000

Grade 3 place value worksheets

• Building 3, 4 and 5-digit numbers from the parts
• Missing place values in 3 and 4-digit numbers
• Write 4-digit numbers in expanded form
• Write 4-digit numbers in expanded notation
• Write 4-digit numbers in standard form
• Identify the place value of the underlined digit
• Compare and order numbers up to 10,000 and 100,000

Grade 4 place value worksheets

• Building 4, 5 and 6-digit numbers from the parts
• Missing place values in 4, 5 and 6-digit numbers
• Write 5-digit numbers in expanded form
• Write 5 digit numbers in expanded notation
• Write 5-digit numbers in standard form

Grade 5 place value worksheets

• Building 5 and 6-digit numbers from the parts
• Missing place values in 5 and 6-digit numbers
• Build numbers from parts with decimals
• Decimal numbers in expanded form
• Decimal numbers in expanded notation

Related topics

Comparing numbers worksheets

Rounding worksheets

Sample Place Value Worksheet

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10 Fun Ideas for Place Value Math Centers

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The beginning of the school year brings excitement and everything place value related, including some fun place value math centers! One of my favorite things about a new school year was creating different math centers to engage students and introduce them to my love of math! To get you started doing the same, I have compiled a list of 10 fun ideas for place value math centers. With these activities, students might even forget they’re practicing math!

10 Fun Place Value Math Centers

1. Roll a Dice Place Value Game . Let students roll a die and use the number to create a 2- or 3-digit number and its expanded form. Have them figure out what each digit represents within the place value system.

2. Place Value Puzzles. Cut up different digit cards and let students piece together numbers with the correct answers either individually or as a team. You can even find pre-made place value puzzles here !

3. Match Up Game. Create two sets of cards with either numbers or place values written on them and have students match the two up correctly for each group of cards. I love versatile place value math centers, so students can complete this individually, in partners, or groups!

4. Place Value Bingo. Make a bingo board using various place values. Give students a number and have them cover the correct place values associated on their bingo boards. For example, if the number was 324, students would look for “3 hundreds” “2 tens,” and “4 ones” on their boards.

5. Tic-Tac-Toe. Give students a card with different boxes containing place value problems and pair them with partners to play tic-tac-toe against one another. The catch is that students must correctly solve the place value problem in the box they would like to claim before marking it! You can find an assortment of similar games here !

6. Number Line Challenge. Draw a number line on the board and ask students to locate different numbers within it using place value clues. You can format this as sort of a “20 questions” game or even “guess who.” The possibilities are endless with place value math centers!

7. Place Value Quiz. Make up a timed quiz for students to work through as teams or partners at that station. Have students write down their times and choose a winner with the most correct answers in the shortest time for a little added competition!

8. Memory Match. Create pairs of cards with different numbers written on them and have students turn over two cards at a time to try to match up the corresponding place values.

9. Place Value Scavenger Hunt. Hide objects around the room that represent different place value concepts, such as coins or hundreds charts, and let students search for each item on the list.

10. Place Value Jeopardy. Divide students into teams and let them compete against each other in a game of place value Jeopardy . Give clues related to different place values and have each team answer accordingly. This is just one of the many place value math centers where you could incorporate a prize for the winning team!

I sure hope you have found some success in your search for a few great place value math centers . With a list of exciting activities, math in your classroom definitely doesn’t have to be a chore. Not only are these activities fun for students, but I truly enjoyed setting them up and taking part as well, so don’t forget that teachers are supposed to have fun in the classroom, too!

Good luck and always remember that you are doing an amazing job!

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Shelly Rees

Hi, I’m Shelly! Thank you for being here. I love helping third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers with fun and engaging activities that require no to little prep! Let me help you by taking some of the stress and work off your plate.

Hi, I'm Shelly

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Place Value KS1

This collection is one of our Primary Curriculum collections - tasks that are grouped by topic.

Snail One Hundred

In this game, you throw a dice and move counters along the snail's body and in a spiral around the snail's shell. It is about understanding tens and ones.

Round the Two Dice

This activity focuses on rounding to the nearest 10.

Two-digit Targets

You have a set of the digits from 0 to 9. Can you arrange these in the five boxes to make two-digit numbers as close to the targets as possible?

Mr Gilderdale is playing a game with his class. What rule might he have chosen? How would you test your idea?

If you put three beads onto a tens/ones abacus you can make the numbers 3, 30, 12 or 21. What numbers can be made with six beads?

Light the Lights

Investigate which numbers make these lights come on. What is the smallest number you can find that lights up all the lights?

Largest Even

How would you create the largest possible two-digit even number from the digit I've given you and one of your choice?

Digit Addition

Try out this number trick. What happens with different starting numbers? What do you notice?

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Year 5 Place Value Worksheets (Differentiated), Lesson Plan and Presentation

Subject: Mathematics

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

30 May 2022

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A lesson plan, worksheets (differentiated to 3 levels), a link to some potential extension activities and a presentation about Identifying the Value of Each Digit Within a Number for Year 5.

There is a PDF of all of the files and an editable version of each file.

Other Year 5 Maths resources https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12160846 - Numbers in Words https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12160854 - Ordering Whole Numbers https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12160859 - Rounding Whole Numbers https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12160861 – Place Value (Decimals) https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12161134 – Complements to 1 https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12163410 – Comparing Decimals and Fractions https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12163418 – Decimal Sequences https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12163429 – Rounding Decimals https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12163439 – Comparing and Ordering Decimals https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12163443 – Multiply and Divide by 10, 100 & 1,000 https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12163455 – Column Addition https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12163587 – Column Subtraction https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12163589 – Column Addition and Subtraction https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12163592 – Add and Subtract By Partitioning https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12163597 – Negative Numbers https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12163601 – Addition and Subtraction Word Problems https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12163606 – Short Multiplication https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12163614 – Square and Cubed Numbers https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12163616 – Short Division

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