Teach kids the process of adding and subtracting using money. Having a tangible object to use when adding and subtracting helps kids visualize the process; adding a hypothetical situation to the math problem also helps. For example, ask students to pretend they are going to the movies to see their favorite film. They want to buy a ticket for $9.50 and they only have a $10 bill; how much change do they receive?
Show kids how to divide by using something fun, such as pizza. Draw a "pizza" on a piece of paper and show kids how to divide the slices of pizza among friends. Tell a student to share the pizza with three friends; how many pieces would he and each of his friends get?
Use another real-world food example to teach kids to multiply. An ice cream truck drives by; Sue and each of her friends wants a chocolate ice cream cone. A chocolate ice cream cone costs $2, and Sue has four friends with her. Five cones at $2 each is how much money?
Use the temperature as a way of teaching real-world math to students. Teach them to find averages by finding the high temperatures for every day of the week, add them together and divide the sum by seven to find the average temperature for the week.