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Guest post by Caroline Mukisa
Kids math skills decline more rapidly over the summer break than their language art skills according to researchers at Duke University. Do your child a favor and try some of these fun math activities – it’s not too late — and they’ll return to school full of math confidence.
1. Math story telling
Reading math stories with your child will help to improve both numeracy and literacy skills. Try the kids science section of your local bookstore or library. Amazon is a great place to research and buy math stories
2. Play a game
Maths game come in all shapes and sizes, so choose your favourite Amazon once again has a great selection of math games
3. Watch a You Tube video
You Tube has thousands of fun math videos. Search through the multiplication raps and maths doodles or get creative and help your child make up their own fun math song.
4. Visit a museum – Check the schedule for your local science centre to see if they have any math based sessions. If not, next time you visit, discuss how math is used in each area of science. Check your ideas by asking a scientist at the centre or by asking Google!
5. Swot up on what’s coming up - Khan Academy is a great website packed with free videos covering every math topic from basic arithmetic to calculus. Your teenager will love Salman Khan’s casual presentation style. Use the videos to review work from the previous school year or to preview what’s coming up next year.
6. Try an online summer program – If your child likes studying online, Ten Marks runs a summer online program designed to keep your child’s maths skills fresh.
7. Bake – Younger children can practise number recognition and counting while your older ones can scale up or scale down recipes, for a tasty mathematical treat!
8. Plan a trip – Distances, travel times and average speed can all be reviewed using Google maps. Get your child to help you plan a trip, and get you and your family to your destination just in time!
9. Watch sport - Whether it’s football, tennis or hockey, sports matches are great for flexing statistics skills. Grab a piece of paper and see if you and your child can calculate along with the experts.
10. Set up a Lemonade Stand – This classic summer enterprise will work wonders for your child’s mathematical skills. Younger children will have fun with ingredient measuring and older ones will practise those important money management skills.
Bio: Caroline Mukisa has 4 of her own children to entertain over the summer vacation. Grab your free ebook, “Yes You Can Be Your Child’s Math Tutor” at her Maths Insider blog where she shares math tips to help you guide your child to math success.
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Melissa Taylor is a mom and educator from Denver who is passionate about playful learning. Thanks for visiting the site!
5 Comments
Love this post! Thanks for sharing. It is easy to tell my 8 year old to go read…she likes it and it keeps her skills sharp over the summer. But trying to get her to do math problems and you get…MOM, that is homework! So I love these suggestions.
Hi Jayne!
Glad you liked the guest post! Just today my kids were playing on Google Maps and Google Earth so I hope your child will enjoy these activities too!
#7 is my favorite way to keep math real with my grandsons. When they are at my house we bake, cook plus it is so yummy too. Practicing multiplication tables while driving has also become a great way to get in that extra little bit of math with my nine year old grandson. Last but not least is the streatching of the dollar when shopping with my grandsons they all know grandma is a bargin hunter and we compare dollars and cents and lbs. and ounces and what you are exactly getting for your hard earned dollars. Practical math, in everyday life is the best way to teach math. Joyce from waddleeahchaa.com
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