Who doesn’t love a good game of bowling—especially one that turns math practice into a race for a perfect 10? Order of Operation Bowling transforms arithmetic review into an energetic hands-on challenge where each “pin” represents a target number to knock down using the correct order of operations. Students roll dice, build creative equations, and celebrate every strike when their math expressions hit the target!
This game naturally sparks math talk. You’ll hear students debating whether to use parentheses first, justifying their operation choices, and discovering the power of order in multi-step problems. It’s a fantastic warm-up, math center, or early finisher game that gets everyone engaged and practicing precision without even realizing they’re working hard. Because it uses just dice and a pencil, it’s low-prep, high-reward—and perfect for building confidence with PEMDAS in grades 5–8.
Roll 4 dice, and write down each number in the frame box. Using all four numbers, try to find an equation with an answer that is one of the numbers on the bowling pins.
Example: if you roll a 3,4,2,2, you could make the equation (4+3)+2-2 = 7. You would then color in pin #7
Do this as many times as you can and try to knock over all the pins.
Once you run out of possibilities or the time has run out, move on to the next frame. Or Try for a SPARE, students roll a second time. The first numbers are void, and students may only use the numbers generated from the second roll.
Adaptations:
Make a list that has 4 numbers in a set. Everyone needs a different set of 4 numbers (at first these numbers may need to be chosen by the teacher).
Then they can use any order of operations to make it come out to a number that is set up in bowling pins. So the possible answers are 1-10.
Example: if you choose the numbers 52, 16, 45, 15 you could make the equation (52-45)x(16-15) = 7. You would then color in pin #7 They use the same set of 4 numbers until all the answers have been found. Then choose another 4 numbers
First person to get all ten pins down. Wins!
Teacher Discussion Prompts
“Which operation did you choose first—and why?”
“Did parentheses change the outcome of your equation?”
“Can you find more than one way to knock down the same pin?”
“What’s the highest number you can make with your roll?”
“How do you know your equation follows the correct order of operations?”
Listen for: Students explaining their sequence of steps, self-correcting errors when order changes results, and recognizing that math structure—not just computation—determines success.
Bowling for math mastery? Yes, please! Order of Operation Bowling is the kind of hands-on fun that keeps kids talking, reasoning, and celebrating each other’s mathematical creativity. Try it this week in your classroom or at home—you’ll be amazed how much “strike talk” turns into “math talk.”
