Design your own game.
Master fractions.
Students play oversized physical fraction games, then design and build their own.
Design Game X is a 10-session, 15–20 hour hands-on Math Lab. Students play oversized physical fraction games — then design and build their own. They arrange cards on giant game boards, launch marbles down tracks, race ping pong balls along number lines, and ultimately create an original fraction game using connector straws, craft materials, and card templates. The lab culminates in a Game Expo where teams present and play each other's creations.
Students start by playing structured games that build fraction understanding through physical action — handling, placing, comparing, and measuring. In the second half, they apply those concepts as design constraints: to build a working game, the fraction math has to be right. Students move from guided play to open-ended design, using fractions throughout as tools for building something real.
How the curriculum works
The first five lessons put students inside four structured fraction games, each targeting a different concept. The second five lessons flip students from players to designers — they create, build, test, and present their own original fraction game.
- Lesson 1: Build houses and towers out of physical materials, partitioning sets and wholes into fractional parts.
- Lesson 2: Play Line Up on oversized game boards — arranging fraction cards in order, comparing denominators, proving which fraction is larger.
- Lesson 3: Play Launchball — launch marbles down a track, adding fractions with unlike denominators to calculate total distance.
- Lesson 4: Play Finish Line — race ping pong balls along a number line and place fractions at precise positions.
- Lesson 5: Play Game X — a mystery game that combines all four fraction concepts.
- Lessons 6–8: Create a game world, draft a plan, and build the game using connector straws and craft materials. Each design task requires fraction reasoning — sizing components, writing rules with fractional quantities, testing that the math works.
- Lesson 9: Write and perform a commercial for the game.
- Lesson 10: Game Expo — teams present and play each other's creations.
10 sessions at a glance
Three sample lessons
Who it's for
- 4th grade teachers looking for hands-on supplemental curriculum in fractions.
- 3rd and 5+ grade teachers who need fraction enrichment or review.
- Afterschool and summer program directors who want structured, ready-to-run math programming with all materials included.
- Curriculum coordinators looking for standards-aligned fraction supplements that work alongside any core curriculum — no adoption process required.
What's in the kit
- Oversized game boards (Line Up, Launchball, Finish Line)
- Polypropylene track for Launchball
- Marbles, ping pong balls, and dice
- Connector straws for building game structures
- Game X design mats, card templates, and planners
- Game World poster, jobs poster, and teamwork poster
- Construction paper, glue sticks, and tape
- Quick-reference teacher booklet
How it runs in the classroom
Every lesson runs through a web-based slide portal. Each session opens with the day's mission and team setup, then moves into the hands-on activity. Short visual mini-lessons teach the math students need to do the work, narrated by veteran math educator Howie Templer.
Lessons run between 45 and 90 minutes, with some extending longer at your discretion. The curriculum works as a daily block (3–4 weeks), a twice-weekly enrichment (5–10 weeks), or an afterschool/summer program. It supplements any core curriculum — students learn fraction concepts through their regular instruction, and Design Game X is where they apply those concepts with physical materials and collaborative problem-solving.
Open the kit, follow the slides, and go.
Standards by lesson
Design Game X covers fractions as parts of a whole, comparing and ordering fractions, adding fractions with unlike denominators, and fractions on a number line — standards already in your grade 4 scope. It doesn't replace your core instruction on these topics. It gives students a place to apply what you're already teaching, using physical materials and collaborative problem-solving.
| # | What students do | Standards |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Build houses & towers — fractions as parts of a set & whole | 3.NF.A.1 |
| 2 | Play Line Up — compare & order fractions | 4.NF.A.2 |
| 3 | Play Launchball — add fractions with unlike denominators | 4.NF.B.3, 5.NF.A.1 |
| 4 | Play Finish Line — fractions on a number line; multiply by whole numbers | 3.NF.A.2, 5.NF.B.4 |
| 5–9 | Design, build & test original fraction games | 3.NF–5.NF |
| 10 | Game Expo — present, play & evaluate games | 3.NF–5.NF |
Professional development
PD is optional. The teaching portal provides step-by-step guidance, and most teachers run Design Game X successfully from the slides alone. PD is recommended when you want to deepen teaching practice around hands-on facilitation, or when a department or grade-level team is adopting the lab together.
Professional development focuses on teaching practice — structuring hands-on learning, facilitating collaborative problem-solving, and reading student thinking during open-ended design work. Led by a nationally recognized math educator, teachers work through a Design Game X session as learners — arranging fraction cards on oversized game boards, launching marbles down tracks to add fractions, building game prototypes with connector straws. Then they unpack the teaching moves with the facilitator: how to structure the teamwork, where students get stuck, what questions to ask, when to step back.
Format & details
- Half-day workshop, up to 30 participants
- $3,495 flat fee
- Led by a nationally recognized math educator
- Teachers experience a full lab session as learners, then unpack the pedagogy
- Fundable through Title II-A professional development funds
- Available as a follow-up coaching package for ongoing implementation support
Evaluation partnership
For districts running formal evaluation studies. If your research office, grant funder, or district evaluation requirements call for a structured study of program impact, we partner with you to design one. If you're a classroom teacher, you don't need any of this to run Design Game X — this section is for evaluation directors, research partners, and grant compliance.
Structure a rigorous study using your own assessments, your own comparison groups, and your own timeline. We don't sell the data — your district owns the results and is free to publish.
Research design options
Simple pre/post
Administer a brief assessment before and after the lab, using district benchmark questions or the 10story pre/post instrument.
Delayed-start RCT
Half of participating classrooms begin first, the other half a few weeks later. Assess all students after the first group completes the project. Use a 10story pre/post or your own assessment.
Matched comparison
Compare participating classrooms to non-participating classrooms with similar demographics and prior achievement.
Implementation + perception study
Document implementation fidelity, student engagement, and teacher perception alongside quantitative measures.
Kit
Teams of 4 students. The Full Kit serves a single classroom.
Full Kit
Materials for a full classroom of 7 Design Game X teams.
- 7 team material packs
- Complete game board library (Line Up, Launchball, Finish Line)
- Polypropylene track, marbles, ping pong balls, dice
- Connector straws and craft materials for game design
- Game X design mats, card templates, and planners
- Posters, quick-reference booklet, and teacher portal access
Cost per student
$1,299 ÷ 28 students = $46 per student for 15–20 hours of instruction.
Year over year
The Design Game X kit includes both durable components (game boards, track, marbles, connector straws) and consumable design materials (card templates, planners, construction paper, glue sticks, tape). Each new class needs a fresh kit to ensure students have the design and build materials they need. Most districts budget Design Game X as an annual line item.
Funding
Schools and districts commonly fund Design Game X through:
- Title I (supplemental support for under-served students)
- Title IV-A (Student Support and Academic Enrichment)
- ESSER carryovers, where still available
- 21st Century Community Learning Centers (afterschool and summer)
- Foundation STEM grants
- PTO/PTA budgets for classroom enrichment
Quantity discounts are available for multi-classroom orders. Ask us for a quote.