Fractions and factors can seem intimidating for many students. I’m sure you’ve seen it- the look of fear and panic in students’ eyes when they’re asked to do new things with fractions. Some of this stems from our own relationship with fractions and the way we present, or frame, learning about them. If we show a lack of enthusiasm when we teach about the greatest common factors, students pick up on that.
The teacher who taught me fractions treated them like any other numbers. She didn’t say anything about how tough fractions are, or how some kids really struggle with them. As a result, we just learned them without being afraid of them. Today I want to share with you 10 activities that make finding the greatest common factors of fractions fun for both students and teachers.
Finding factors and the greatest common factor is a very important skill when it comes to working with fractions. In my work with 7th and 8th graders I can see how much easier it is for them to work with fractions if they understand factors. For example, some students don’t struggle understanding the Pythagorean Theorem, but have a poor grasp on basic fraction concepts. They bomb the Pythagorean Theorem test when really it’s their fraction fluency that’s tripping them up.
Finding factors and the greatest common factor is a skill that requires fluency, so students need a lot of practice with it. Let me share some ideas, games, and activities that will give your students to practice with finding the greatest common factor.
Here’s the list of greatest common factor activities:
Greatest Common Factor Coloring Activity
Greatest Common Factor Pixel Art Activity
Greatest Common Factor Fruit Splat Game
Let’s look at them more closely
We are going to go through each activity and look at them more closely. There’s a link for each activity and you can see if the activity would be right for you class. Let’s dig in!
Common Factors Mazes
Mazes are great for practice and review for students. Kids love mazes. I can’t always explain it, but kids will do a maze when they might complain about a worksheet. This set of greatest common factor mazes gives students some practice with identifying common factors between two numbers. I like to give students the same mazes again 8-10 weeks after the first time. They don’t remember the answers and we get a second use out of the maze to review these skills.
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Greatest Common Factor Bingo
You can really get students engaged in whole class practice by playing bingo. Actually, I used a bingo game today after a two week fall break. My students were so into it. I like to give them a simple prize like stickers or a piece of candy for winning each round.
This bingo game practices finding factors and finding greatest common factors. Each student gets a unique game card and I have a set of problem cards that we work through in a random order. Sometimes, if I don’t use all of the problems I save the extras to use with students during sponge time.
Also, you can be strategic in which problems you use with the class. If one of the problems is beyond your students’ reach, then you can just skip that problem. I do a lot of modeling on the document camera with the first problems and then reduce the support and release the control with subsequent problems. I make sure that all students are accountable for doing each problem by using small whiteboards or work paper. Students love this game- it’s just a fun way to review.
Knockout Game
Knockout games are another engaging way to practice as a whole class. You present the problems on the board through a projector and students do the work at their desks. The game starts with a game board. It has little characters that students choose to reveal each question. Each question is worth a different amount of points, so I have students track how they’re doing on their work page.
One of my students’ favorite things about knockout games are the bonuses that they come across. These award extra points randomly, or they take them away! All of the questions in this game involve finding the greatest common factor between numbers. The harder questions have more than two numbers to work with. I hope your students love playing this game as much as mine do.
MathGames.com
This common factors game from MathGames.com works great for independent practice online. They have 3 levels for students to work with and also provide a variety of games that students can use to practice the skill. I love the Zombie game. The first level is very simple, and it increases in difficulty as it goes. Students have to get 10 questions right per level to move up to the next one. This works perfectly as a center when you need students to have immediate feedback on their work.
Quizizz
If you haven’t tried Quizziz before, you should definitely check it out. Students complete a quiz and they get points for speed and accuracy. But it’s so much more than that. It has a competitive side to it and students play against each other in the class. They see funny memes when they answer a question, showing them whether their answer is correct or not.
Students can go at their own pace if you use it in homework mode. Here I’ve linked to a quiz that has 9 questions and includes numbers between 1 and 100. It’s easy to keep track of students’ results through the teacher account and see how your students are doing. This activity is great for classwork or homework and is the perfect formative assessment.
Kahoot
Over the past few years it seems like Kahoot is everywhere. I use it a lot with my Math Lab students. They love the competition aspect of playing this game. One thing I’ve had to deal with is students getting a little too competitive, so I have to keep an eye on that! It definitely gives me an opportunity to teach students about sportsmanship.
This specific Kahoot game is great for practicing finding common factors. It has some numbers in the hundreds or thousands. This might be a challenge for some students, or it could be just right for students who understand this concept and know how to work with bigger numbers.
Greatest Common Factor Pixel Art Activity
Pixel art activities make feedback a cinch. These digital activities give students immediate feedback to let them know if they’re on track, or if they need a little extra help.
The Greatest Common Factor Pixel Art Activity is built in Google Sheets. It’s easy to assign through Google Classroom or other learning management system. Students will complete 16 problems in this activity. As they enter correct answers, a pixel art picture will get unscrambled. The unscrambling picture shows students when they’re on the right track, or when they need a little more help.
This digital activity keeps students engaged in doing math, and helps them immediately see if they’re on the right track. This digital activity works great as individual practice, partner work, or homework activity.
Greatest Common Factor Coloring Activity
Coloring activities are a great way to get students practicing math concepts with a bit of a built-in brain break. This coloring activity for greatest common factor is a simple one page review that has students color according to the GCF, numbers 1-10.
This is a simple twist that makes math practice a little more fun for students. One tip is to have students check their work first before committing to the colors. Or, use a quick glance at coloring patterns to see when students are heading off track and need a little extra help. It’s a great way to monitor progress on the task as a teacher.
Greatest Common Factor Fruit Splat Game
This online game is very simple and quick to set up and play. There are a few different modes to choose between and then you’re quickly into the game. This game would be good for an anticipatory set or during sponge time. To play, students have to click on the greatest common factor when given a pair of numbers. Plus, it’s just fun to watch fruit splat when you get the right answer!
Worksheet
Sometimes you just need a worksheet to get students some practice or you can use the problems from the worksheet to facilitate a game. There are a variety of websites that give free worksheets. I like to play the target game, whiteboard football, or pick a card to turn boring worksheets into fun practice. You can learn more about these games and try one in your class to add a little spice to your math practice.
Try one thing…
When students start looking a little bored or not engaged, you might want to try something new. Most students appreciate playing games in math class and they won’t realize they’re practicing their math skills. But don’t worry that you have to try all of these activities. My suggestion is to try one new thing at a time. You’ll see if it’s right for you and your students. Then, you can try another one when you’re ready for it. Have a fun time on your math teaching journey.
All three of my low-prep resources for greatest common factor are available at a discount in this bundle here. Check it out.
Thanks so much for reading. Until next time!
