Math in the Home

Math in the Home


This section provides the opportunity to use games and
activities at home to explore math with your child. The
activities are intended to be fun and inviting, using household
items. Please note that the activities for K-1st grade are
marked with a , the activities for grades 2 and 3 with a
, and activities for grades 4 through 8 with a .

Remember,

* This is an opportunity for you and your child to "talk
math," that is to communicate about math while
investigating relationships.

* If something is too difficult, choose an easier activity
or skip it until your child is older.

* Have fun!



Picture Puzzle





Using symbols to stand for numbers can help make math fun
and easier for young children to understand.


What you'll need


Paper
Pencil
Crayons



What to do


1. Choose some symbols that your child can easily draw to
stand for 1s and 10s (if your child is older, include 100s
and 1,000s).



A face could 10s, and a bow could be 1s.

2. List some numbers and have your child depict them.

For example:



More or Less


Playing cards is a fun way for children to use numbers.



What you'll need


Coin
2 decks of cards
Scratch paper to keep score



What to do


1. Flip a coin to tell if the winner of this game will be the
person with "more" (a greater value card) or "less" (a
smaller value card).

2. Remove all face cards (jacks, queens, and kings) and
divide the remaining cards in the stack between the two
players.

3. Place the cards face down. Each player turns over one card
and compares: Is mine more or less? How many more? How
many less?

This game for young children encourages number sense and
helps them learn about the relationships of numbers (more or
less) and about adding and subtracting. By counting the shapes
on the cards and looking at the printed numbers on the card,
they can learn to relate the number of objects to the numeral.