6 Simple Sponge Activities for the Math Classroom

There’s nothing worse than having 30 eyes expectantly staring at you, but you have no idea what you’re going to do. Have you ever been there? Maybe it was an unannounced fire drill that you just returned from, leaving too little time to start your planned lesson. Or maybe students found a concept easier than expected, and have flown through the work you’d carefully set up for the day. While we may not know exactly when we’ll need a sponge activity, these unexpected bits of time are inevitable.

Taking just a few minutes to plan ahead with a few simple sponge activities saves time in the moment, and eliminates the panicked feeling of “oh no! What do we do now?”

The visual of the sponge soaking up a spilled drink always reminds me of the metaphor of sponge activities. They’re perfect for when you need to soak-up some extra time. Sponge activities are useful to have on hand any time of the year, but especially during the last weeks and days of the year.

Today, I’m sharing with you 6 of my favorite math sponge activities that you can have ready for those random classroom minutes that you don’t want to waste in your classroom:

• Blurt or Shout
• 20 Questions
• Bingo
• Kahoot
• The Price is Right
• Buzz

Let’s dig in!

Blurt

When I was a language arts teacher I used to have a set of Blurt cards (from the board game) on my desk. Whenever I had some random extra time I’d grab these cards and start playing this game with students.

I love having quick and easy sponge activities ready at any moment. This game never fails. You don’t even need cards. You can just make-up definitions on the spot and play this game anytime.

So, what is Blurt? It’s a board game where there is a set of cards. Each card has 3 words on it, each with a definition. You start by reading aloud the definition, and students literally blurt out what they think the word is until someone blurts the correct answer. The first to say the correct word gets a point (or a Jolly Rancher ?) You can do this with math vocabulary or numbers. For example, “this is what we call a letter that represents a number”. The first student to blurt out, “variable”, wins a point. The game is so simple- you can get into it and out of it in literally seconds.

Students love it because they get to blurt out answers which is usually against the rules. It makes for some student fun and they are practicing vocabulary at the same time.

As a math teacher you can leverage this game and practice with some math vocabulary words. In math class I call it Shout instead of Blurt. Click below to make your own copy of some Shout cards you can use in your classroom. Keep them handy for those random 3-5 minutes that pop up from time to time. It’s the ultimate sponge activity.

​CLICK HERE TO MAKE A COPY OF FREE ​MATH SHOUT CARDS

We’ve gone ahead and created a set of this math vocabulary game for grades 6-Algebra I. They’re easy to prep and even easier to play- just print and cut apart the cards in the set. Then keep the set handy (I had it at my front desk next to my doc cam) and then pull them out when your lesson finishes 3 minutes early, or when the unexpected fire alarm leaves you a random 8 minutes of class and throws your plans out the window.

Find Math Vocabulary Shout Games here:

• 6th Grade Math Vocabulary Game
• 7th Grade Math Vocabulary Game
• 8th Grade Math Vocabulary Game
• Algebra I Math Vocabulary Game
• Bundle of all 4 Math Vocabulary Shout Games

20 Questions: Math Edition

20 Questions is a fun, no-prep game to keep in your back pocket. To play, you (or a student) chooses a number. Then, students take turns asking yes or no questions to try and figure out what number it is. They should ask questions like- Is it a whole number? Is it an even number? Less than 100? A positive number?

This is fun because you can use exponents, fractions, integers, etc. and they really have to think about what a number is in a different way. You can challenge your students to try and get to the number in the least amount of questions.

Bingo

If I have 10 minutes or more of sponge time, then my go to is bingo. It takes a minute to pass out the bingo cards, but after that it’s super fun. I like to have a review bingo game for adding and subtracing integers, distributive property, or something like that on-hand for when the moment arises.

Overall, students are familiar with bingo, so there’s not a lot of explaining. You can get right into the game and play a fast version (i.e. 4 in a row), or a longer version (blackout). Plus, students can play multiple rounds with the same game cards by using different symbols to check off their answers (i.e. round 1= stars, round 2= check marks, round 3= smiley faces, etc.)

To get a FREE Bingo for your class, click here to download a free one-step equations Bingo game. Just enter your email and it will be sent right to your inbox. This game works great as a sponge activity.

YES! Send me a FREE One-Step Equations BINGO Game!

Kahoot

With Kahoot (or another similar online class game) you can quickly play a math game, or find a trivia game about animals or food.

Kahoot game is a whole class online game that students play on their own electronic devices. They can use a student computer or even their phone. This game works well when you have 5 to 10 minutes, and can be used as an incentive to get students to complete their work faster or to clean-up faster. It’s worth taking a few minutes ahead of time to favorite a few Kahoot games for such an occasion so you’re not trying to search for one at the last minute. (Did I ever tell you about the time that we played an animal trivia game that literally had a picture of the correct answer for each question? Oh, good times!)

The Price is Right

When I was a kid one of my favorite shows to watch was the Price is Right. I think that I loved just about everything about it. It had a great host and there was math involved. I have been a math geek for as long as I can remember. As a teacher I love the idea of incorporating any aspect of this beloved game show into my classroom.

I came across a version of the Price is Right that is perfect for a sponge activity. It can be ready for you in an instant and it gets kids thinking in a mathematical way.

You can either show a picture of an item, draw a picture of an item, or just tell students an item. Then, they try to guess the price of the item without going over. It’s a spin on the classic gameshow and a fun way to get students thinking about values. This can be used for when you have 1 to 10 minutes of sponge time.

​CLICK HERE TO MAKE A COPY OF ​THE PRICE IS RIGHT CARDS​

There are so many variations you can do with this game. You could have students answer in fraction only answers. You could have students estimate the tax on the item after they know what the price is. Or, students could put 3 items on a number line of where they think their price falls. The possibilities are endless.

Buzz

Buzz is a fun game where you count as a group. Each student counts on from the student before, and whenever you get to a number with a 7 in it or that is divisible by 7 then the person says, “buzz” instead of the number. Then you move to the next person and the next number. Special note: the number 77 would actually be buzz-buzz-buzz (there are two 7’s and it’s also divisible by 7).

This game is a fun round robin game that has no prep involved. You have to explain it the first time, but the more you play it the quicker it becomes to get into it. It can be played when you have 1 to 5 minutes of sponge time. You can also switch things up and play with a different number instead of 7.

Save Sanity with Sponge Activities

There are so many activities for sponge time. You can keep students engaged and they usually love these activities. Often they’ll ask if we can do one of the sponge activities and then I use it as a motivator to stay focused during class, so that we can play the “game” at the end of class.

Most of these activities can be teacher-led when you introduce them, but after you’ve played them a couple of times you can switch and have them be led by one of the students.

Taking a few minutes to plan ahead for the inevitable, but unpredictable, sponge time really pays off. It feels really good when you have some of these ideas in your back pocket and you feel prepared when you suddenly have a few spare moments.

So, which sponge activity are you going to get set up today?

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