Why Game-Based Learning Is the Best Thing We Have for Maths Anxiety in 2026

The studies I've been reading from 2025 and early 2026 point in a consistent direction: platforms that use avatars, role-playing mechanics and multiplayer structures do more than entertain children. They actively lower the physiological and psychological stress response that maths anxiety triggers. One pattern that stood out to me across multiple studies is how avatar-based play, where a child inhabits a character and takes on challenges through that character, creates what researchers describe as a layer of emotional distance from the fear of failure. The child isn't "bad at maths". Their character is facing a challenge. That reframing matters enormously for anxious learners.

The finding I keep coming back to is this: it isn't just engagement that improves with game-based learning. Standardised test performance improves too. These aren't soft, feel-good results. They're measurable academic outcomes in children who previously disengaged entirely from numeracy tasks.

What this research also makes clear is that not all gamification is created equal. Slapping a leaderboard onto a worksheet and calling it a game doesn't cut it. The platforms showing the strongest effects share specific design features: meaningful progression, low-stakes repetition, social play, and crucially, a design that doesn't punish mistakes in ways that amplify anxiety.

I want to be careful here, because one-to-one tutoring clearly helps many children. But for kids with genuine maths anxiety, or those who are neurodivergent, the tutoring environment can actually replicate the very pressures that caused the anxiety in the first place. A child sitting across from an adult, being asked to perform on demand, under observation, with an implicit expectation of correctness, that's a high-stakes scenario for an anxious brain.

What we keep hearing from the schools and SENCOs we speak to early in our conversations is that these children often refuse to participate, shut down, or mask their difficulties so effectively that the underlying anxiety goes unnoticed for years. The research on DGBL speaks directly to this. Games give children a reason to try again without the social cost of failing in front of a person. That's not a trivial difference. For a child with dyscalculia or significant maths anxiety, it can be the difference between engaging at all and not.

I know the phrase "screen time" triggers a reasonable amount of parental hesitation, and rightly so. But the research being published right now makes a useful distinction that I think is worth understanding. Passive consumption, scrolling, watching, is categorically different from active, structured digital play with clear learning goals built into the mechanics.

Digital game-based learning in the studies I've reviewed is specifically characterised by a child making decisions, receiving immediate feedback, adjusting their approach, and trying again. That's closer to what happens in a good maths lesson than it is to watching YouTube. The multiplayer element adds something else: a genuine social motivation that passive platforms simply cannot replicate. Children want to play with their friends. When the game involves times tables, the motivation becomes intrinsic rather than imposed.

As our founder Gal Darrash puts it, "The games children already love are doing something we could never do with a worksheet: they're making kids want to come back."

If you're a parent reading this and your Year 4, 5 or 6 child is already anxious about maths, or if you're a teacher watching a pupil disengage every time multiplication comes up, the research gives some practical direction.

First, the emotional environment matters as much as the content. Reducing the fear of being wrong, repeatedly, is a prerequisite for learning, not a nice extra. Second, repetition within a game context doesn't feel like drilling. Children will practise a maths fact dozens of times inside a game without registering it as practice. That automaticity, the ability to recall a times table without strain, is exactly what builds fluency and reduces anxiety over time. Third, multiplayer matters. Shared play normalises mathematical engagement in a way that solo practice rarely does.

At XTables Champions, this is precisely what we've tried to build: a maths fluency platform that uses the games children already gravitate towards, layered with multiplayer so the social motivation is baked in from the start. We've designed it from the ground up with SEND and neurodivergent learners in mind, because the research makes it clear that anxious learners need a different kind of environment, not a louder version of the same one.

From the schools we speak to, the children who struggle most with times tables are rarely struggling because they lack ability. They're struggling because every encounter with maths has become associated with stress. Breaking that association is the real work, and games, when designed thoughtfully, are genuinely one of the most promising tools we have for doing it.

If this research resonates with what you're seeing in your classroom or at home, I'd love for you to explore what XTables Champions offers. Whether you're a SENCO looking for something that genuinely works for your most anxious pupils, a Year 4-6 teacher trying to build fluency without fear, or a parent who's run out of ideas for a child who dreads maths night, we'd be glad to show you what we're building and why.

Visit xtableschampions.com or get in touch directly to find out how XTables Champions can support the children in your school or home who need maths to feel less frightening. We're a small team and we genuinely want to hear what you're dealing with.