24 Ways to make Math fun for kids
- Monster Mum
- Mar 1, 2016
- 3 min read
In the Kitchen
Cooking and Baking
1. The kitchen is the best to learn math and make it fun. My children enjoy learning measurements, we find easy to make recipes for kids online and have a great time. Get your children to read what is needed such as 1 cup, 2 tablespoons and measure it out.
2. Ask questions like: So how many cupcakes have we made?
3. Older kids can learn about the equivalencies between measures such as 250 ml = 1 cup and 1000g = 1 kg. Fractions, ½, ¼ etc.
Out & About
4. While on a family walk get the kids to count the pavers
5. Call out the numbers on letter boxes which is a great opportunity to chat about odd and even.
6. Wearing a watch? Time your walk; waiting for the bus, check the timetable and get the kids to watch the time.
7. Get the kids to point out different shapes on the way.
8. If you’re out and about in the car, have your children count how many yellow cars they see. You can have each child pick a colour and make it a game to see who sees the most cars.
Books
10. There are so many books out there to teach math from an early age, below is some examples of counting books for young and primary aged children.
In the Garden
11. My kids love to get the tape measure out of the tool box to measure the path and garden beds.
12. Planting seeds need to be 5cm apart, get the kids measure and count.
13. Measuring the weather, get a cheap weather thermometer and have your child tell you the temperature, you could create a weather station by placing a measuring cup or old bottle to fill with rain on a wet day.
At the Supermarket
14. Taking the kids shopping is the best place to do math and helps keep the kids entertained. Compare prices; ask your children is this more or less than the other. 15. Older kids you can do this but work out which is the best buy from weight.
16. For younger kids, ask them to put 5 Apples into the bag
17. Ask how many juice boxes are in this pack and things like what number aisle are we in?
18. Have your child weigh the fruit and veg, perfect opportunity to talk about grams and kilos. Show them the bags of potatoes, which one do they think is the 5kg one?
19. Primary school children can be asked to round prices- $1.59=$1.60
Play time
Board games
20. Board games are great for teaching children to count; you can find traditional board games such as: Checkers/ Draughts, Battleship, Snakes and Ladders for cheap these days or check to see if your local area has a toy lending library for an even cheaper option.
Online Games
21. A simple google search will show you many free Online Math games. We recommend cool math games
Apps
22. The app store is full of free and cheap math apps for children of all ages
Puzzles
23. The best thing about puzzles is that you can find ones for all ages, my children all had the ABC and Number puzzles to start with. What I love about puzzles, no matter if they’re picture puzzles, Rubik’s cube, crosswords or a maze they are great for children to improve memory and problem solving skills, which all helps with math skills.
Toy ideas
24. Below is an example of toys that make math fun
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