How do you round numbers?
To round a number, look at the digit in the place after the one you are rounding to. If it is five or more you round up, and if it is four or less you round down. Rounding 47 to the nearest ten gives 50 because the 7 is five or more, while 43 gives 40. This game makes that rule something a child can see rather than only recite: it drops the number onto a number line between the two round numbers, and they tap the one it sits closer to.
How do you play the Rounding game?
A number line shows your number sitting between the two round numbers on either side of it, with the halfway mark in the middle, and you tap the round number it is closest to. The answer checks itself the moment you tap, and the working then explains which way it went and why, so the rule that five or more rounds up becomes something you can see rather than only recite. Easy rounds two-digit numbers to the nearest ten, Medium adds the nearest hundred, and Hard rounds larger numbers to the nearest hundred or thousand.
Why a number line makes rounding click
Rounding is one of the first places a child meets an approximation, and the rule about the halfway point is easy to forget under pressure. A number line fixes that by making the answer visible: the number is either nearer the round number on the left or the one on the right, and you can simply look. Once a child has seen where a number falls a few dozen times, the rule stops being a thing to remember and starts being obvious.
Rounding from grade 3 to grade 5
Rounding begins in third grade with the nearest ten and hundred, which Easy and Medium cover, and fourth and fifth grade round bigger numbers to the nearest hundred and thousand, which is Hard. Because the difficulty is a button, one page carries a child from their first careful rounding of a two-digit number up to rounding in the thousands. For the place value that rounding builds on, our math games collect more practice.
Frequently asked questions
How do you play the Rounding game?
A number line shows the number between the two round numbers it sits between, with the halfway mark in the middle. You tap the round number it is closest to. The answer checks itself, and the working explains which way it goes, so the rule sinks in. Easy rounds to the nearest ten, Medium adds the nearest hundred, and Hard rounds to the nearest hundred or thousand.
What grade is rounding for?
Rounding starts in third grade with the nearest ten and hundred, and fourth and fifth grade round larger numbers to the nearest hundred and thousand. Start on Easy for two-digit numbers, then move up. The same page carries a child from their first rounding to bigger numbers.
Why show a number line?
The rule that five or more rounds up is easy to forget, but a number line makes rounding obvious: you can see whether the number is nearer the round number on the left or the one on the right. Seeing it that way first means the rule becomes something a child understands rather than just memorizes.