Numbers and place value
Year 5 · Maths
Explore numbers, spot patterns and explain how you worked it out.
Choose a game
Take your time, try a game and collect stars.
Negative numbers
Place positive and negative numbers from −10 to 10 on a number line. Free Year 5 maths game.
Play Negative numbersRounding numbers to 1,000,000
Round numbers up to 1,000,000 to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000 or 100,000. Free Year 5 maths game.
Play Rounding numbers to 1,000,000Roman numerals to 1,000
Match Roman numerals up to M, including years such as MCMXCIX. Free Year 5 maths game.
Play Roman numerals to 1,000
Learning about numbers and place value
In this Year 5 maths collection, you can practise Negative numbers, Rounding numbers to 1,000,000, Roman numerals to 1,000. Choose a game above for a short activity, or explore the examples below before you play. The full guide for each game explains its controls, gives more examples and includes a free printable for practice away from the screen.
Talk it through
Use counters, a drawing or a number line before moving to a mental method. Ask your child to explain a choice, then change one number and try the method again.
Ask: “How could you show the same answer another way?” Give your child time to explain. Return to an example after playing and ask whether they would approach it differently.
Negative numbers
Negative numbers are numbers less than zero, such as −3 or −10. Year 5 pupils learn to interpret negative numbers in context and count forwards and backwards with positive and negative whole numbers, including through zero. Temperature is the most common context: −4 °C is 4 degrees below freezing.
Try an example: Put −7 on the number line.
From −5, count 2 steps left: −6, −7.
Show the answer
Two ticks to the left of −5
What to look out for
Thinking −8 is bigger than −3. Use a thermometer: which is colder? Colder means a smaller number.
Rounding numbers to 1,000,000
Year 5 pupils learn to round any number up to 1,000,000 to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000. The rule is the same one they learnt in Year 4, applied to bigger numbers: look at the digit just to the right of the place you are rounding to.
Try an example: Round 346,812 to the nearest 100,000.
Look at the ten thousands digit: 4. Round down.
Show the answer
300,000
What to look out for
Losing track of which digit is which in a long number. Write the number in a place value chart, or underline the rounding digit.
Roman numerals to 1,000
Year 5 pupils learn to read Roman numerals to 1,000 (M) and recognise years written in Roman numerals. This builds on Year 4 (numerals to 100) by adding D (500) and M (1,000), and the subtractive pairs CD (400) and CM (900).
Try an example: CDXLIV
CD = 400, XL = 40, IV = 4.
Show the answer
444
What to look out for
Reading CM as 1,100. C before M means subtract: 1,000 − 100 = 900. MC would be 1,100.
Practise away from the screen
- Check the weather forecast in winter and compare temperatures below zero.
- Round the population of your town or the distance to another city to the nearest 1,000 or 10,000.
- Look for dates in Roman numerals on old buildings, war memorials and church foundation stones.
Curriculum connections
These games support selected practice connected to Place value in the National Curriculum in England. Use your school’s sequence to decide when to introduce and revisit each skill. A game covers selected examples, rather than assessing every requirement.
Questions families ask
Where should we start with numbers and place value?
Start with Negative numbers. Look at the worked example together, then try a round. If the task feels unfamiliar, use the full game guide or its free printable before trying again.
Does this cover everything taught at this level?
No. This collection brings together the games currently available for this learning area. It supports selected skills and does not replace the full programme of study or practical teaching.