Grocery Game: Estimating, Adding, and Multiplying Decimals - Fall Edition

Do you want your students to practice loads of decimal operations and money math without using a worksheet? Try this fun math game that your whole class can play while they pretend to grocery shop and stick to a budget!

Here is a brand new version of my popular grocery game. There are three rounds included (Back to School, Halloween, and Thanksgiving) with five food items in each round! This math game allows students to practice estimating, adding, and multiplying with decimal numbers in a fun and engaging way!

It is a fun, whole class math game that you need to be able to project in your classroom on an interactive whiteboard. Students follow along using scrap paper or a mini whiteboard to complete their calculations.

As students play, they practice estimating to stay within a pre-determined shopping budget. They have to multiply & add with decimal numbers: great applied math!

Since this is a PowerPoint Presentation, you are able to move the boxes covering the price of each item after students make their guess: just like a real game show!

Instructions:

1) Decide on a target range. A higher range will require more challenging multiplication. If the range is tighter, it will be more difficult to win. I usually use a range such as $50-$52.

2) Tell students they must buy at least 4 of the 5 products. Students need to have a piece of paper and a pencil for calculations.

3) Choose a student to pick the first product. She needs to estimate the price for one of them, decide how many she wants to buy, and estimate how much that will cost. “I think the cheese is about $5, I want 3, so that will be around $15.”

4) Then show the price (by moving the red box with your cursor), and all students calculate the cost by hand. For example, 3 x 5.75 = 17.25. This is the start of the running total.

5) Choose another student to buy the second product. Again, have him or her estimate before calculating. Then allow all the students to calculate the cost of the second product. For example 4 x 3.19 = 12.76.

6) Now students have to switch from multiplying to adding decimals. They add the price of the second product to their running total. 17.25 + 12.76 = 30.01

7) Continue with the third, fourth, and fifth (if necessary) product.

8) Students try to spend between $50-52. It’s not always easy! Talk to the class about different strategies such as saving an inexpensive product for the end.

Grades to Use With:

This is a fun math game for grades 4-7 when you are studying money, grocery shopping, and decimal operations. Even kids in middle school will have fun playing along!

What's Included:

5-Page PowerPoint Presentation with 3 Rounds and Teacher Instructions

If you enjoy this math game, check out my other rounds:

Original Grocery Game

Spring Grocery Game

Winter Grocery Game