Have Fun with Math

By Apples 4 the Teacher
Nov. 1, 2009

Are you tired of your dull and boring math assignments? Then you have come to the right place! This article is all about fun and effective activities to help you master your addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Make sure to ask your parents before using food and other household supplies that are recommended for these activities!

One of the best (and yummiest) ways to master your basic arithmetic is with food! Candy, crackers, or just about any other snack can be used to help you with your skills. Make sure the food is something you can separate into individual pieces, like crackers or skittles. You need pieces so you can add and subtract parts. Ask your parents if you can get a treat from the store or the cupboard to help you with your math.

Once you have access to food, you can get started. Using an actual item, like food, helps a lot of kids because you actually get to see the math that you are doing. It is not longer a random and abstract concept! You can even use your food to help you solve your math homework problems.

For example, if your assignment is a worksheet with word problems, use your food to help you compute the arithmetic. If the question asks you to add numbers together, take this number of your individual pieces of food and add them together.

If your parents won’t let you use food, there are many other items in your house that work just as well. Crayons, pencils, and paperclips are good alternatives because they are easy to move and around and you can use them for math without having to waste them. Make sure that whatever you use is not something that you will not be able to reuse later.

For example, it would not be a good idea to use tissues or toilet paper because you will just have to throw them away after solving your math. You would use crayons, pencils, or paper clips the same way that you would use food. Each item can be added together or separated apart to help you see the math you are doing.

Games are another great way to conquer your math! There are many games that involve math concepts. These include cards, dominoes, checkers, chess, and Yahtzee. Are you surprised that these games are listed as math helpers?

Take a second to think about the skills that are needed to play these games. Cards and dominoes require an understanding of numbers, checkers and chess use logic which is closely tied to math, and Yahtzee requires players to add and multiple numbers!

This means the next time your parents nag you to study your math you can request to play a game with them (if they have a hard time with that, have them read this article and other math related articles located on this site). However, please understand that games and other activities that are listed in this article should not be considered replacements to homework and studying; therefore, you still have to finish your daily assignments and will have to do other more serious forms of studying part of the time.

There are also math games on the computer and the Internet that will help you understand the math skills that are plaguing you. Many kids’ sites have links to online math games. Be sure to check out ours in the resource directory! If you are having a lot of problems with your math class, then you might want to check out a more specialized math game.

Ask your parents about online tutoring. Online tutoring lessons combine fun math games with specialized instruction. This means you get to play fun games and get a lot of extra help with math class. Your parents can learn more about online tutoring by reading the articles on our site.

As you can see, there are more ways to learn math than just through math assignments! The next time you get bored or need a little more help figuring out your math assignment, try the tips and activities that were listed in this article. Hopefully they will be fun and effective for you.

Source: Apples 4 the Teacher

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what games you play to help your child learn math. dan@youngchronicle.com