How to Set Up Math Stations in Under 30 Seconds

I remember my first year of teaching and trying to run math stations at the same time. It was total and under chaos to say the least. Not only did I not have a classroom to teach in and had really no classroom management, but I also was spending so much time finding and preparing math stations. Like so. Much. time. I wish I could get those hours back! The time spent finding good stations, printing, laminating, and cutting only for the stations to be used for a day. One day, with all that work! Finally, I decided to turn to google and search ‘how to set up math stations. I found some tips but nothing that really helped fix the problems I had!

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I knew that I wanted to keep math stations because my students had never been so engaged and I was able to actually teach my students where they were academically. But something had to change. I couldn’t keep up all the prep for each station to only be used for 1 day. I went in search of low prep easy stations. And sadly didn’t come up with much in terms of games that students could play without me cutting out and laminating a million cards or pieces. 

But then I remembered when I was student teaching my cooperating teacher used the idea of Tic Tac Toe to gain student interest. And so I set out to create my own version of Tic Tac Toe! I loved this setup because the game requires very few rules, is self-checking, and most important of all it doesn’t require any prepping other than printing! Triple win in my book! I have now made so many game boards over upper elementary math topics that I can even differentiate from all my students. 

A note about the Tic Tac Toe Set Up

I love using Tic Tac Toe games in my math classroom. They are self-checking which is a huge plus for me. Students pair up and their partner has their answers. This leaves me free to help other students or run small groups. Students playing the game can practice the math topics correctly without me hovering over them or students asking me a million questions to check their answers. 

I also love this game in particular because it is easy for students to pick up. That was another drawback to my old way of math stations; students never knew how to play the game. So students were spending more time learning a game than focusing on the math. It also didn’t help that students were trying to learn a new math game every couple of days. So along with new concepts, students were learning new games. They didn’t get much math practice out of the old ways of math learning centers. 

Tic Tac Toe on the other hand is easy to pick up and students have already learned it. I haven’t met a student who didn’t know Tic Tac Toe, so really I just had to teach them to solve a problem and then check with their partner before taking a turn. After setting up this routine at the beginning of the year, students can play Tic Tac Toe all year long. The concepts change up throughout the year but students are essentially playing the same game.

I have also used this easy prep setup to create a new set of games called 4 in a Row. Similar to connect 4, this game is still self-checking and fun for students to play! I also started to make a dice game version, that while it isn’t self-checking, students are creating their own math problems. Grab the whole number math games for dice here. 

These games have been such a game-changer for me in my upper elementary classroom! With no prep on my part but high engagement for students, this is the best of the teaching world. Be sure to check out my free set of Tic Tac Toe Games here. 

Less Prep Work

This creation of Tic Tac Toe solved all of my math learning center problems, even ones I didn’t even know I had! As I was making math stations with tons of pieces, I was running out of places to store them. And since I didn’t have a classroom that first year of teaching I didn’t have a lot of storage options. 

When I was prepping my first set of Tic Tac Toe boards I had run out of laminating sheets (#teacherprobs) so I just slipped the sheet into page protectors and ran with it. Turns out that games in page protectors can be stored in binders, without taking them out of page protectors! Not only did I save a huge step with prepping (goodbye lamination) but I also found an easy way to store my stations for next year. 

How to Set up Math Stations: Storing

Storing math stations in binders became a game-changer. I love those multi-colored task cardholders as much as the next teacher but those were not going to work for my full page size games. I do use those task card holders for my task card sets but for all the other stations I use binders.

The larger 3-inch binders are perfect for this, and a cost-effective answer too! I simply leave my math stations in their page protectors and pop them in the binder when it’s time to switch them out. I use either tabbed dividers or post-it notes to divide the different topics. Everything stays organized all in 1 place. Makes my teacher’s heart happy. 

The only drawback to this setup is the number of page protectors needed to make this work. If you are able to laminate each set and then three-whole punch them for the binder that would be best. But to be honest, I don’t do this. Page protectors are just so much faster. But this would make a great summer project, to laminate and organize all my Tic Tac Toe boards.

How to set up math stations you ask? Well, I simply pull out the game boards I want to use from the binder. Then I put the boards in baskets for students to pull from. Each student needs a game board and a dry erase marker to play. An extra whiteboard or scratch paper can be used for making the actual tic tac toe board.

I typically switch out math stations every couple of weeks depending on how often we have done math learning centers. I will also give students options when it comes to picking math partner games. I’ll leave out a few different topics for spiral review throughout the year. This gives students the choice to pick both their partner and their math concept to practice. The more kids can choose, the more buy-in they seem to have. They also get pretty competitive to win at tic tac toe so the engagement seems to always be there. 

How Math Learning Centers Work in My Classroom

The hands-on station is only 1 of my math station rotation ideas in my classroom. But this is the one that requires the most time prepping. My other stations come together a lot faster. The independent practice is typically a worksheet or some activity like a solve and color. My teacher’s table is usually me working with students on that practice or pulling a set of task cards. For the technology station, my students play Prodigy at their level or I’ll use a set of digital task cards to combine technology and independent practice. Math station games are the one station rotation that can be trickier to prep easily. Hence, the hunt for a no-prep math game option. 

If you are looking for other simple planning math station ideas be sure to check out this post for more ideas. I talk about options that require less prep work in general while still being engaging for my students. 

If you want help setting up math stations in your classroom, then I recommend my free 5 part video series where I share all of the tips and tricks to setting up math stations. Drop your email below and you will gain access to all of the videos- from why stations work, to how to set up stations and so much more! Transform your math block from frustrating to fun!

Looking for other Math Games Ideas?

Here’s a collection of other math station rotation ideas for you to try out in your classroom. Not all of these ideas are no prep, but they can give you some jumping-off points for your own brainstorming session. Math games don’t have to be time-consuming to prep!

• 25 Fun Math Games & Activities for Kids Who Hate Math (some of these would make great whole group lessons or stations)
• 7 Quick and Easy Math Center Ideas ( I love Tanya’s idea on using QR codes for self checking answers! This could be great for students who are in person or remote learning)
• How To Make Math Games that are Fun (yes you can learn to make your own!)
• Simple Planning Ideas for Math Centers to Save You Time (I mean everyone is always looking to save themselves time, especially teachers this time of year!)

I’d love to hear from you, how to set up math stations! Do you have any go-to resources that are no prep and easy for students to learn? I’d love to know so drop them in the comments below! Are you looking for a free version of the Tic Tac Toe games I mentioned? Click on over here to grab a free set to try them out!