Simplifying expressions game for Year 7 and Year 8 KS3 maths: a collecting like terms and expanding brackets board game with 72 algebra cards at three levels, including Factorise It! cards, worked answers on the back and a colour and black and white race track board.

Pupils simplify a card, roll the dice and race their car round the circuit. A correct answer adds a boost on top of the roll (+1, +2 or +3 by pile), so pupils choose their own challenge each turn. The pit lane is a shortcut, oil slicks send you back and Race Control cards add the luck.

Every card back shows the answer, the working, and the TRAP: the answer a pupil gets from the classic slip on that card, such as 3x + 2x written as 5x squared, 4x + 3 written as 7x, multiplying only the first term in the bracket, or losing a negative sign.

What’s included (42 pages)

• A4 board, landscape, a 30-space race circuit, colour and black and white
• 72 algebra cards in three piles of 24, each with the answer, working and TRAP on the back
• One star: collecting like terms and a single bracket
• Two stars: negatives, a negative multiplier and two letters
• Three stars: two brackets, fraction multipliers and squared terms
• 16 Factorise It! cards: take out the highest common factor
• 12 Race Control cards, How To Play card, six stand-up race cars and a dice net
• Race Log recording sheet with a steps strip
• Teacher’s guide, teaching notes with misconceptions, answer key

Ways to use it

• Revision before an algebra assessment
• Starters and plenaries using the cards on their own
• Maths carousel or stations
• Cover lessons: everything is on the rules card
• Intervention groups with the one-star pile and the short race

Timing

Around 17 minutes for three players. The short race to Half Distance takes about 7 minutes.

Curriculum

KS3 Algebra: use and interpret algebraic notation, including coefficients written as fractions and brackets; simplify and manipulate algebraic expressions to maintain equivalence by collecting like terms, multiplying a single term over a bracket and taking out common factors; understand and use the concepts and vocabulary of expressions, equivalence and terms. Suitable for Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 intervention, SEN and EAL groups, and home education.

A4, 42 pages, single classroom licence. You need one dice per group.