Today I’m sharing one of my favorite games to build math fluency. If you’re not familiar with Shut The Box and it’s many variations, you are going to want to tune in (and snag it for FREE at the end!)
How To Play:
- Player 1 rolls 2 dice, adding them together to find the sum.
- If their sum was 9, the player can cover up ANY combination of numbers that equal 9, using each number only once!
- 4 + 5
- 6 + 3
- 2 + 3 + 4
- you get the idea
- Player 2 rolls 2 dice, adding them together to find the sum. Then player 2 may cover up any combination of numbers that equals their sum.
- Each player continues taking turns flipping numbers over to equal their sums. However, they may not reuse any previously covered numbers for their current roll. If they cannot make their sum with their remaining numbers, you can impose one of two rules
- Give each student 3 strikes before being considered “out”
- Students will just lose their turn, and will try again on their next roll
-
The first student to flip over all of their numbers WINS!
- Although you can grab the actual board game from various vendors on Amazon, not all of us can afford it! I have found that a paper version works equally as well. I just slip it into a sheet protector, give my students some dry erase markers and voila!
Variation & Differentiation
Kindergarten- Number Identification
I loved using Shut the Box with my first grade intervention group! There are two (and probably many more) quick ways to make this option work for you:
Use a deck of ten frame cards with representations of numbers 1-10 instead of dice. Have students match the card they flip to their game board.
Use a spinner with numbers 1-10. Have students match their spin to the ten frame representation on their cards.
1st & 2nd Grade- Addition & Subtraction
- Player 1 rolls 3 dice and find the sum.
-
- 10 + 6 – 2
- 3 + 4 + 7
- you get the idea!They may use any combination of numbers with addition AND/OR subtraction to create that sum. If a player rolls a 14
-
Player 2 continues in the same fashion as in previously explained version

Single Player
3rd Grade
Whole Class
GET IT FOR FREE:
I hope you have enjoyed a peek into this amazing game! If you have a different way that you play this game in your classroom, I would LOVE to hear more about it! Thank you for stopping by!
I love everything about this post!! And I love that your version is different than the version I've played too!! Who doesn't love VARIETY when it comes to math games!?! Great work, girl 🙂
Such great ideas! May I ask, where did you get the plastic covers for the tracking sheet? Love them.
You are the Math Games queen! I love all of the options and versions you provided! Thank you!
You can also use a 0-9 die and have your students make 10. Since the die doesn’t have a 10 the 0 is used for both 0 and 10. You will need to “shut” the 11 and 12 on the board. I have the actual game that goes to 10. My students love playing it for making 10.
I’d love more info on how to play this with multiplication. It seems like you’d need numbers all the way to 100? Is there someplace I could find out more? (Sadly, the Lakeshore product website says it has been discontinued : (
I am so glad I found this blog post!! I discovered Shut the Box at a family gathering a while back, but didn’t want to shell out $30+ for a game for my classroom. This is the perfect compromise! Love all the different variations too. Thank you for sharing!!
I am curious as to how you play it using multiplication.