Discover cones, spheres, cubes, shapes and geometric fundamentals with objects around the house or classroom.
In this game, you will help young children build a building or castle from recyclable items. Have them gather or bring in empty paper towel and toilet tissue rolls, milk cartons (all sizes), ping pong balls, paper cups, straws, foil, tubular containers (like oatmeal boxes) and shoe boxes.
Have the students sort all the items by classification: cylinders, cones, cubes, squares, rectangles.
Use a shoebox lid or large, heavy piece of cardboard (depending on the size of the project) and begin building a foundation for the castle. Discuss with the students the best configuration for strength. Use pictures of buildings or castles to help students visualize their project.
Add smaller pieces to heighten and decorate the castle, milk cartons come with slanted sides which are perfect for the roof line of a castle.
The final project can be painted, decoupaged or covered with foil.
Go Fish by Tens
Object: To get as many pairs of cards that can total ten.
Learn the combination of numbers that add up to ten, this game is a fun way to practice strategy.
Number 48 index cards with a marker, four sets each of 0-10 and four "Wild" cards. Or, with bigger kids, use a deck of cards and substitute Kings for Zero and Jacks for Wilds, remove Queens.
Each player is dealt five cards. The remaining cards are placed face down in a deck in the center of the table or play area. Any dealt pairs are laid down in front of you and can be replaced from the deck.
Unlike regular Go Fish, each player keeps a tally of their math problems on a piece of notebook paper as they lay down their pairs.
As in regular Go Fish, players take turns going around the table asking other players for a card to match their hand, but in this case the card they are looking for must pair with a card in their hand to add up to 10. "Wild" cards can be any number.
If you receive a card that adds up to ten, put the pair of cards down. Then, take one card from the deck. Your turn is over. If you do not get a card because the other player did not have the card you asked for, take a card from the deck. If the card you take from the deck makes ten with a card in your hand, put the pair down and take another card. If it does not make ten, your turn is over.
If you have no cards left in your hand but there are still cards in the deck, take two cards.
The game is over when there are no more cards left unpaired. Whoever has the most pairs of tens at the end of the game wins. Make sure to keep track of all the pairs you have an how they add up to 10 on a piece of notebook player as you play.
Count Your Name
Assign each letter of the alphabet a numerical and dollar value, A is worth $1.00, B is worth $2.00 and so on.
Have students spell out their full names, then in cryptogram fashion, translate the letters to a dollar value. Sam 19+1+13= 33. The game can be played with first names, last names or both. The person with the highest dollar value wins. This principal can also be used on any group of objects, for example, animals. Students randomly pick an animal, add up the letter values and the animal with the highest dollar value wins.
Scavenger Hunt with Measurement
Everyone gets the same type of measuring tool, it can be a ruler, tape measure or even a scale. Whatever you are measuring, set a timer and have the kids find 6 items they think will fit a specified measurement; for example, call out "Six inches." Then participants have a designated amount of time to retrieve the six items they think will measure six inches. Everyone gathers together when time is up and each person takes turn measuring their items. The person with the most accurate number of items wins.
Time and Distance Game
While traveling, use speed limit signs and maps and have children calculate the length of time until a destination is reached. This is great for class field trips and also family trips.
Cooking is a wonderful real life experience in applying math principals. Enlist students to help pick an age appropriate recipe.
Begin with shopping. This helps practice basic math, reading skills, calculating, comparisons, multiples, weights and measures, money and change.
Applying math to the recipe during the actual cooking or baking allows children to make use of following, sequence, measuring, time, and portions. The best part of this activity is eating the results.
Concept Dice Games
Roll the dice and give points according to different challenges: total points, pairs, sequence, difference. Keep a tally as you take turns to practice addition.
Multiplication Dice
This game is tricky at first but fun once you get the hang of it. The first player starts with two dice, throws and multiplies the two numbers together. Keep multiplying each answer by two until an error occurs (as called out by another player). Then the play moves to the person on the left, and is repeated. After each round, add another dice to the mix. Keep track of how many times each round a person can successfully multiply until they miss. Tally at the end for winner.