Tabletop RPG Classroom: In-Game Math Lesson for Elementary School Kids
Kicking off a new series of in-class TTRPG examples/ideas, check out below for tips on how to structure a tabletop RPG around math classes! This first article in the math series will cover how to structure a classroom game for elementary school kids to learn core math skills like telling time, counting money, and introducing early multiplication concepts.
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General structuring for math with tabletop role-playing games
First! Many well known tabletop RPGs use dice and stat modifiers that are added together so you can see if an attack hits or how much damage is done.
While that teaches some math skills, we aren’t looking at teaching math that way here.
This is going to look at taking very specific math standards and building game mechanics and a story around teaching those particular skills. The goal is also to have it fully integrated into the game (so not just a side quest).
For young kids, this might be addition, subtraction, fractions, etc. For high school students, this might be early calculus.
Second! If you’ve already read my other TTRPG classroom posts:
Chemistry lesson articles
Social studies lesson articles
…much of this next explanation will be similar to the general structuring section in that post, and you can go here to skip ahead to the grade school math in-class example (the new part)!
Third! Before we get to the example, we’re going to cover some general tips for structuring your game around a lesson or educational goal. Much of this will be similar to any subject that you’re teaching (not just for math lessons and not just for elementary school kids). This means that if you’re here looking for general TTRPG classroom info, much of this can be applicable to any class, after school group, or game!
I’m covering this all before the elementary school TTRPG example because it is important to understand the basics for how the example is structured and why we’re doing things the way we are (so that you can take this material and extrapolate it for your particular kid(s) and lessons).
Setting your game’s educational goal(s)
When it comes to setting up intentionally educational TTRPGs, before you start coming up with plots and mechanics and even educational content, you first need to figure out what your goals for your students are since this is going to be what we want to build everything else around.
You don’t want to be trying to shoehorn a concept into an existing game or story idea that doesn’t really fit… and then losing the focus on what you want to teach.
Pick one to three core goals that you hope to accomplish with the tabletop RPG that you’re introducing to your class. What is the purpose of introducing this game?
For math lessons with young kids, these concepts could be something like “learn how to tell time with a clock” or “count money using bills and coins” or “use a square grid to count objects”. There’s a range here with topics being purely academic to topics that focus on general big picture concepts that will build a foundation for future lessons, so think about your situation and pick a couple that work for your group and that you think could be helped by working into a TTRPG.
Paying attention to your game’s focus
Next, once you have your goal to build from, you’re probably going to start thinking of the game system that you’ll use and the story that you’ll make to surround the topic(s) you chose.
As you do this, make sure to keep the focus on teaching your goal.
If you pick a complex game system that takes several weeks to learn, you could be diverting your students’ focus and time from the core goal (learning math) and instead putting it on learning about this particular game system… which is not your goal.
For some subjects (like in this interview with D&D teacher Kade Wells), systems like D&D can be great for teaching English and reading because they require critical reading skills to understand, and it provides necessary motivation, so that system meets the goals of the class. I also show how, if the group knows D&D off the bat, it can be a very good medium for teaching classes as well, like in my middle school chemistry lesson post that uses D&D.
When looking at math, if you want to focus on teaching addition and subtraction, D&D may facilitate that because it provides a solid motivation (playing a fun game) that does require addition and subtraction of dice, modifiers, health, etc to play. That said, a player may sometimes only make 5-15 rolls per hour of play, and much of the addition and subtraction will involve rolling 1d20 for a skill check and adding a modifier ranging from -4 to +5. For this, just consider if the pacing and math problems meet the goals you aim for.
When I look at making a TTRPG for teaching math, I look at existing math lessons and math worksheets then try to figure out a story or framework that can make those more interesting. With my kid (7yo, 2nd grade), they HATE worksheets, but as soon as we framed it as “this math problem is actually about Link from Legend of Zelda buying arrows and you get to color the rupee associate with each problem in when you’re done to save up for a sword”, kiddo attacked it and then asked for another worksheet that was about Hornet from Silksong.
Adding the story to the math made it impactful and gave the problems in the worksheet meaning besides “this will help later in life”.
For a class, also consider to keep the adventures for your lesson modular (you probably don’t have time to get into a ton of lore and still keep it within a typical class period), so run quick one-shots or have a few short sessions spread out over a semester or learning chapter… then end there. It doesn’t need to be a full epic campaign to get your educational goals across, and you want students focusing more on the educational concepts anyway.
Include multiple points of contact with the subject material in your TTRPG
If you look at stories ranging from fairy tales to present day children’s tv shows, when a new concept is being taught, it’s often presented at least three times (think of how The Boy Who Cried Wolf repeated its theme or how Bluey reiterates topics throughout the episode).
This is because we need to interact with something more than once for it to sink in. When teaching, you should also reiterate some of the topics a few times to make sure they stick and students have had enough time to process and absorb the material.
When you look at the example below, watch for multiple points of contact and how they drive the core goal home over and over. Also, watch how they can progress between rounds of play to add more concepts as they gain familiarity with the original lessons (i.e. the first time you play, round 1 is about telling time in quarter hours, but the next time you play, you can add telling time by fives).
Build your math class examples into each other and the TTRPG
With those multiple points of contact, you’ll also want to make sure that they are both built into each other (so they’re related and connected) and that they’re part of the story and/or mechanics that you have included in your tabletop RPG.
Tying them tightly into the game creates the connection that you’re looking for between your players and the material, and it’s the whole point of doing this! So, make sure that your story and your lessons match!
Now, this all can seem like a lot to watch out for, but it’s really a few very simple points:
- Determine your educational goal
- Keep your mechanics and story simple and focused on the goal
- Use your goal at least three times
- Connect your game ideas to the goal
To help show how to do this specifically for elementary school kids, here’s an example lesson that teaches about telling time, filling in multiplication grids, and counting money!
Example TTRPG math lesson for elementary school kids (<8)
Goals, context, and mechanics for your elementary school TTRPG math lesson
Context: Midday lesson in the regular class schedule. 2nd grade. Concepts previously taught in lessons but many students struggle on tests. Time limit of 40 minutes.
Goals: (1) tell time on a clock, (2) fill in a square grid, (3) count money
Mechanics: clock time (for baking), square grid (filling orders), counting money (payment); multiple rounds with increasing complexity
Lesson(s): Bake treats for a group of superheroes who need snacks to keep up their strength and save the city! Have the class answer as one OR break them into small groups of 3-4.
First step: Time to Bake!
In this example, our first concept is going to be teaching clock time. The students will need to read clock time to bake the superhero treats properly.
For this game’s story, we’re going to tell students that they are going to run a bakery for a bunch of superheroes who need to eat A LOT of food to power their abilities and save the city from disaster!
You can introduce some favorite characters as the hero team (ex: Spider-Man, Link from Legend of Zelda, and Hornet from Silksong) at this time. For my example below, these are the three I’ll be using.
You can also name the bakery or allow students to choose a name (though… letting them choose can take class time). For the example below, I’ll be calling the bakery “KAPOW Cakes!”
After introducing the main concept, read the following to your students about their first quest:
Right now, no one knows what trouble will happen in the city, so you need to be ready with snacks for the heroes!
You must bake each hero’s favorite treat every morning and they each take different times to cook! Mark on the clock when each one will be ready!
Hornet likes Mini Void Cupcakes, which take 15 minutes to bake
Spider-Man likes Chocolate Cookies, which take 30 minutes to bake
Link likes Personal Apple Pies, which take 45 minutes to bake
Once students have marked the clock, check to see if they are correct. If they are, the treats are all ready! If not, they may be burned or undercooked, and they will need to try again!
At this point, also describe how the treats came out to emphasize the impact of the player actions. Do they smell amazing? Does the test sample (because you have to confirm the quality) taste WONDERFUL?!
In future rounds, consider changing the treats or adjusting the time (i.e. Mini Void Cupcakes need to be bigger and now take 20 minutes) to progress the skill practice.
Second step: Orders Up, Up, and Away!
Our next concept is going to be teaching grid math. The students will need to place treats in a grid box to fill the orders for their heroes.
As the last baking tray is pulled from the oven, commotion can be heard outside! Disaster is striking the city!
Tell your students about what’s going on out there! This should only take about 30 seconds, and it helps to raise the stakes and quickly brings in a bit of fun. To help keep plots age appropriate, the episodes list for Spidey and His Amazing Friends, PJ Masks, Phineas and Ferb’s Dr. Doofenshmirtz, and Super Kitties can be places to go for weird and silly super hero plots.
Then, read this aloud:
As our heroes tackle this challenge, their energy starts to fade! Spider-Man swings into the store and orders treats for the group. Put the treats in the box so they’ll stay safe as Spider-Man delivers them!
Spider-Man orders three treats for each hero and needs to know how many total there are so he can pay you properly.
For this part, provide students with a grid sheet (typically 5×5 for 2nd graders) and ask them to fill in the treats by marking squares with letters, stickers, etc for the different treats.
Students then need to count the treats and can do this by adding the rows.
In future rounds, consider using different grid orders (like 4 of each treat, or adding another row to help a guest hero) to vary the problems and increase complexity.
Third step: Full Payment
Our next concept is going to be teaching how to count money with bills and cents as our hero pays for the treats.
After your students have properly counted out the treats, read the following:
For nine treats, it will cost $12.50.
Spider-Man INSISTS on paying and hands you all the money in his pocket for you to sort while he shoots webs out the door to help the others.
Spider-Man gives you:
One $10 bill
Five $1 bills
One quarter
Ten dimes
Three nickels
What is at least one way you can use this to make $12.50?
Give students time to count this out, and check their work or help them get to the correct amount. Once they have a correct solution, read the following:
You take the correct payment and give Spidey the right amount of change. He thanks you, grabs the box of treats, and swings back into the fray, tossing cookies, cakes, and pies to the other heroes!
Here, you can also do a quick 30 second description of how the heroes succeed and let students know that new challenges will arise tomorrow! A satisfying conclusion can help to give motivation for next time.
In future rounds, consider increasing the complexity by changing the cost or having different rows of treats cost different amounts requiring an extra addition operation before coming to the total.
Three (or more) points of contact
To reintroduce or iterate the math operations practiced here, play this at least three times over. When I did a sample playthrough, this took about 15 minutes to run the first round and 10 minutes to run the others, so it should still fit within the 40 minute time limit assumption from the beginning.
To keep the content interesting, consider slightly increasing the complexity of one step (not all three) each time you play if you observe that your class can handle it AND make sure to keep the story interesting! Change up the heroes and their orders, and vary the catastrophes they face.
If you want to have tactile pieces or toys that can help with these, printing a picture of a clock, having paper cut out baked goods ready, and printing a grid to place the cut outs on can be good tools for engagement as well.
This kind of story and any tactile pieces that you make may also be useful for kids who want to continue playing. They will likely change the math parts, but encouraging play with the story concept can still continue a connection (i.e. as they play, maybe they still think about the math concepts even if they aren’t using them) taught in class, especially if you come back to it during a later class period.
You can also change the theme for future lessons too so it feels different! Maybe instead of a superhero bakery, it is a bakery for pets or pokemon! Changing the theme can help with engagement as you try this again and again to practice concepts and introduce new material.
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What’s shown here can be modified to fit your class and other types of lessons, and it’s meant to be a springboard for other ideas. There’s tons of variations on this one example too – you could measure ingredients for the baked goods, buy supplies between rounds using the money earned from a day’s sales, and watch stock to see how much is left after an order is filled. There could be different hero groups with different needs or a particular hero (like The Flash) who comes in with a VERY large order, causing chaos and requiring a slightly more complex problem. Get creative and see what works for your class and your time limits!
I hope it helps to show a sample tabletop RPG lesson outline for either direct use in your classes or to spark some inspiration for other ideas, and let me know in the comments if you use this or have ideas of your own!
Stay tuned for future lessons as well – the next two “Tabletop RPG Classroom” articles will cover middle school and high school math lessons that feature different systems and subjects to help round out the examples and show how it can be scaled to fit the needs of older kids.
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