Six Fun and Easy Kid Math Activity Ideas



Posted: Thursday, August 31, 2006

by Nancy Johnson
Creative Child Activity Notebook

Math is a part of everyday life. We use math when go shopping, calculate distance when traveling, cook a yummy recipe, plant a garden, and play games. Kids learn math concepts such as estimating, word problems, time and distance, measurement and the basic addition and subtraction. Here are six different kid math activity ideas that are easy and fun:

Counting games include putting jelly beans or candy corn into a large clear jar. Have kids look at the jar and estimate the number of candy pieces they think might be in the jar. Then as a group, count out the candy and see who had the closest guess.

Play a guessing game with coins. Give each child one of each kind of coin. Ask questions such as; five of this coin adds up to a nickel? Gradually ask harder questions once the child masters each question. Practice addition by asking what coins make 35 cents or how many pennies will he or she give you for a dime?

When traveling, point out speed limits and distances to travel from one place to another. Let them use a map and calculate how long it will take to travel between two towns. Have kids figure out the time to travel a particular distance when driving at different speeds.

Cooking is a wonderful way to practice many math skills. Lets them help measure out ingredients and discuss fractions with them. How many quarter cups are there in one cup? Make a pizza and cut into eight slices. How many slices are there in one-half of the pizza? Talk about cooking times and temperatures with kids. Let them use a thermometer to test cold or hot food items.

Have them help with gardening and measure how tall the plants grow. They can use a measuring tape or ruler to plant seeds a specific distance apart. Or have kids draw a diagram of their bedroom and measure how big the room is. They can measure the doorway, windows, closet etc.

Play games such as tic-tac-toe, checkers, chess, card and dice games. These games encourage counting, finding patterns, and solving problems. A fun dice game includes drawing a funny creature. To play the game, you need a pair of dice, plain paper, and markers. Kids will roll the dice and add the two numbers together. Whatever the answer is they will draw that corresponding creature feature on their paper.

Each player should have at least six turns to create a funny creature. Afterwards discuss their creatures, how many eyes or legs do they have? They can even discuss the statistics of which numbers came up the most when rolling the dice.

As a mother, grandmother, and child development professional, Nancy Johnson, shares over 20 years experience working with children and planning activities on her website, Creative-Child-Activity-Notebook.com. Check it out for more school age child activity ideas including learning, holiday, party, cultural, and nature child activity ideas.

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