Fractions games

Key Stage 1

Year 2: Fractions of amounts

Number – fractions: “recognise, find, name and write fractions 1/3, 1/4, 2/4 and 3/4 of a length, shape, set of objects or quantity; write simple fractions, for example 1/2 of 6 = 3”

Finding a fraction of an amount means splitting it into equal parts and taking some of them. Year 2 pupils find ½, ⅓, ¼, 2/4 and ¾ of lengths, shapes, sets of objects and quantities. They write statements such as ½ of 6 = 3 and learn that 2/4 is the same as ½.

In the game, children answer questions such as '¾ of 12 = ?' against the clock. All amounts divide exactly, so the answers are whole numbers. The questions use the fractions named in the Year 2 programme of study, plus ½, so children meet halves, thirds and quarters as well as their first non-unit fraction, ¾.

Play Fractions of amounts · Free printable

Lower Key Stage 2

Year 3: Fractions on a number line

Number – fractions: “recognise and use fractions as numbers: unit fractions and non-unit fractions with small denominators”

In Year 3, pupils learn to recognise and use fractions as numbers: unit fractions such as ⅓ and non-unit fractions such as ⅗, with small denominators. Placing fractions on a number line is one of the clearest ways to see that a fraction is a number with a size, not only a part of a shape.

In this game the line runs from 0 to 1 and is split into equal parts, from halves up to tenths. Children move the marker to the right fraction. Only 0 and 1 are labelled, so they have to count the equal parts to find the right spot.

Play Fractions on a number line · Free printable

Year 3: Adding and subtracting fractions

Number – fractions: “add and subtract fractions with the same denominator within one whole [for example, 5/7 + 1/7 = 6/7]”

Year 3 pupils learn to add and subtract fractions with the same denominator within one whole, for example 5/7 + 1/7 = 6/7. When the denominators are the same, every part is the same size, so you just count how many parts you have.

In the game, children balance the scales: they find the fraction that makes both sides equal, such as 2/9 + 5/9 = ? or 2/9 + ? = 7/9. The Quick quiz shows questions such as 2/9 + 5/9 = ? and 7/8 − 3/8 = ? with four answer choices. One wrong choice always shows the classic mistake of adding the denominators as well (2/9 + 5/9 = 7/18). Answers stay within one whole, and if the total is exactly one whole, such as 3/5 + 2/5, the answer is shown as 1.

Play Adding and subtracting fractions · Free printable

Year 4: Decimals on a number line

Number – fractions (including decimals): “recognise and write decimal equivalents of any number of tenths or hundreds”

Year 4 introduces decimals. Pupils learn to recognise and write decimal equivalents of any number of tenths or hundredths, count in hundredths, and see that hundredths come from dividing one whole by 100 or a tenth by 10. 0.37 means 3 tenths and 7 hundredths, which is 37 hundredths.

The game uses two kinds of number line. One runs from 0 to 3 in tenths, with only the whole numbers labelled, for placing numbers such as 1.7. The other runs from 0 to 1 in hundredths, with bigger ticks for each tenth, for placing numbers such as 0.37. Because hundredths are so close together, being one hundredth out still counts on this line.

Play Decimals on a number line · Free printable

Upper Key Stage 2

Year 5: Ordering decimals

Number – fractions (including decimals and percentages): “read, write, order and compare numbers with up to 3 decimal places”

Year 5 pupils learn to read, write, order and compare numbers with up to three decimal places. That means comparing numbers such as 0.5, 0.45, 0.405 and 0.054, which look similar but have quite different values.

In this game children put five decimals in order, either smallest first or largest first. Each set is built from the same few digits in different places, with different numbers of decimal places, so the only way to order them is to compare place by place. Move cards with the arrow buttons or tap two cards to swap them.

Play Ordering decimals · Free printable

Year 6: Fractions, decimals and percentages

Number – fractions (including decimals and percentages): “recall and use equivalences between simple fractions, decimals and percentages, including in different contexts”

Fractions, decimals and percentages are three different ways of writing the same proportion. ½, 0.5 and 50% all mean exactly the same amount. Year 6 pupils should recall and use equivalences between simple fractions, decimals and percentages, including in different contexts.

In this matching game, children pair cards that show the same value in different forms: a fraction with a percentage, a decimal with a percentage, or a fraction with a decimal. The cards cover halves, quarters, fifths, tenths, eighths (including ⅜ = 0.375 from the curriculum), twentieths, twenty-fifths, fiftieths and hundredths.

Play Fractions, decimals and percentages · Free printable

Year 6: Simplifying fractions

Number – fractions (including decimals and percentages): “use common factors to simplify fractions; use common multiples to express fractions in the same denomination”

A fraction is in its simplest form when the numerator and denominator have no common factor other than 1. Year 6 pupils use common factors to simplify fractions, and common multiples to give fractions the same denominator. For example, 12/18 simplifies to 2/3 because 12 and 18 can both be divided by 6.

In the game, children balance the scales with equivalent fractions, such as 12/18 = ?/3 or 3/4 = 9/?. In the Quick quiz, each question shows a fraction to simplify, with four choices. Watch out: sometimes one of the wrong choices is equal in value but only partly simplified (such as 6/9 for 12/18). It is a fair fraction, but not the simplest form, so it is not the answer.

Play Simplifying fractions · Free printable