Math Activities for Kids

Learn Math Facts with Math Fact Sticks

March 3, 2015 By Terri Thompson

Luckily for us, my daughters’ school is trying very hard to make learning fun for the kids.

I’ve been spending a lot time at their school volunteering in the classroom. While there, I’m learning some fun and easy ways to help the kids learn math facts and succeed at math.

Some of things they are doing would be perfect for at-home practice. I’m going to pass on some helpful hints to you, so you will have the tools your need to help your child succeed.

Math Fact Sticks are a fun and easy game to help your child learn math facts. Play this fun math game with one or two kids.

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These math fact sticks are a variation of a game that they play at my daughters’ school to help the kids learn math facts. I’ve simplified the game a bit so that it works better for us at home and makes it easy to play with one person.

Make the Game

It took me only a few minutes to create the game.

All you need are craft sticks, a permanent marker, and a list of the math facts your child needs to learn.

My daughter often brings home math fact lists or sets of flashcards. Either of these will help you make the game.

If you don’t have that, feel free to ask your child’s teacher for a list of facts your child is learning. Most teachers are delighted to know that you’re working on this at home.

You will need 2 craft sticks for each math problem. Write the problem on one stick and the answer on the other stick. Leave one side of each craft stick blank.

Learn Math Facts While You Play the Game

Divide the sticks into two piles, one for the problems and one for the answers. Lay them out in two columns, blank side facing up.

Game play is similar to playing Memory. Turn over one stick from the first column and one stick from the second column. Trying to match the problem to the answer. If the two sticks don’t match, turn them both over and try again.

When you find a match, remove both sticks from the game area.

Keep playing until you find all matches. You can play this game with one to two people.

As my daughter gets more and more comfortable with the math facts, I hear her say the answer before she even turns over a stick from the second column. I know the facts are sticking. She practices more; it’s a game after all. And, I don’t hear any moaning and groaning about math time. Score!

The next time you need to learn math facts, ditch the flashcards and make up a set of math fact sticks instead.

Fun Math Facts Game – Math Fact Islands

February 23, 2015 By Terri Thompson

Every single day I see the words “practice math facts” in my 2nd grader’s planner. In fact, I also saw that every single day when she was in 1st grade.

Do you see that too?

It’s a hard task, and it’s definitely not something we do on a daily basis. After all, the last thing my daughter wants to do after a full day at school is come home and get drilled with flash cards.

We did a lot of car drills with the easier facts (car drills = me calling out problems while on a car trip and she would try to answer as fast as she could). But now, I’m trying to come up with a fun math facts game so we can practice and have a little fun at the same time.

Learn and move with this fun math facts game, Math Facts Islands. This gross motor math fun is a fun way to practice and a great way to move after school.

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One way to add a little fun to our math fact drills was to add movement. If you’ve got a child that is a kinesthetic learner (one who learns best through movement), take note. They’ll love this fun math facts game and so will any child desperate to move after a long day at school.

How to make your Math Facts Islands game

To make the game, I took a pile of craft foam circles and wrote an addition problem one side. I then flipped it over and wrote the answer.

We were working on our doubles +1 facts (5+6, 7+8, 8+9, etc.), but you can play this game with any set of math facts.

I used the craft foam for durability, but you can use paper circles or even paper plates instead.

How to play this fun math facts game

We scattered the math facts islands on the floor, math problem side up.

My daughter jumped from island to island and called out the answer when she landed on it.

We did it several times because it was just so much fun.

To add a little challenge to the game, we flipped all the islands over and she had to give me a math problem that matched the answer.

You can play a different version of this game using a coin or other small item that you can toss.

In this version, my daughter would toss the item and try to get it to land on the island. Then, she had to say the answer to the problem.

We enjoyed the jumping version of the game better, but I wanted to share this version because your child is different and may very well enjoy this version better.

If the idea of practicing math facts with your child makes you groan, try this version. They’ll have so much fun, they won’t even notice how much they’re practicing. Plus, you won’t have to listing to any complaining!

Math Play: Roll and Graph Game

June 18, 2014 By Terri Thompson

As a good-bye gift to her students, my daughter’s 1st grade teacher sent them all home with a pair of dice. Isn’t that a brilliant idea?

They used dice a lot in class and I thought it would be fun to continue using them for learning at home.

After all, dice usually mean a game. And, a game usually means fun.

So, we got out those dice, grabbed some paper, and started playing this fun roll and graph game.

Practice graphing skills with this fun math Roll and Graph Game. It's easy to set up, fun to play, and you'll learn a lot too!

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Make your Roll and Graph game

I prepped a simple graph for each of my girls.

I labeled 1 through 20 up the length of the paper and 1 through 6 across the bottom.

Once we gathered our data, the girls used this to make a simple bar graph. They also used another small piece of paper with the numbers one though six on it for their data.

How to play

I gave each girl one dice and asked them to throw it 20 times.

They had to record each number on their smaller data sheet using tally marks. They would mark one tally next to a number from one to six each time they threw that number.

Once they each tossed the dice 20 times, we took a look at our data.

It’s time to graph

Miss Preschool (who I should now call Miss Kindergarten) had never made a graph before, so this was a very new concept to her. And, I should add, it was probably over head. But, we persevered because she is always up for doing whatever her sister is doing.

We used the bottom row to record the numbers on the dice and drew a bar to show how many times we rolled that number. I made the graph up to 20 because there was the slight possibility (very slight) that someone would throw the same number 20 times. Luckily that didn’t happen and we had a much more even showing.

This simple Roll and Graph game was fun to play and I think Miss 1st Grader…errrr… Miss 2nd Grader will play it again and again. She had a lot of fun and easily caught on to the concept of the bar graph.

Estimation Station for After School Fun

November 7, 2013 By Terri Thompson

How many rocks are in the jar?

How many pom poms?

Challenge your kids with this fun Estimation Station math game. How close can they get to the correct amount?

Challenge your kid's estimation skills with this fun estimation station math invitation. It's easy to set up and so much fun to play. #math #elementaryed #CreativeFamilyFun

I recently set up this Estimation Station to give my 1st grader a fun math challenge after school.

It took only a few minutes to set up. I just gathered a few items from around the house and had this math game ready in no time.

My daughter loved it and had a great time guessing and checking her answers.

Challenge your kid's estimation skills with this fun estimation station math invitation. It's easy to set up and so much fun to play.

Set up your Estimation Station

I found a selection of glass jars and loose parts. Any glass or clear container would work.

I filled my jars with rocks, LEGO blocks, and pom poms. These were all items that I had readily available.

Use whatever you have. Cotton balls, beads, dried pasta, paper clips, crayons, and bottle caps are some more possibilities for an estimation station.

I also wrapped some rubber bands around a wine cork. I got that great idea from No Time For Flashcards and their Estimate-Unwrap-Count challenge.

Add a chart

I then made a simple chart with a column for each item and one row for the estimates and another row for the actual amounts.

I had everything set up on the table waiting for my first grader to return home from school.

For an added challenge, you can have your kids make their own chart.

It’s time to estimate!

My first grader took one look at the project and dived right in.

She examined the jars and though hard about her estimates.

“Rubber bands are skinny, so there must be more of them,” was one of her thought processes.

She made her guesses with lots of thoughts and reasoning. There was no haphazard guessing going on with this project.

After she made her estimates, she counted the items to check her guesses.

I had her divide the items into groups of five before counting to sneak in some skip counting practice.

The results

We found some surprises.

Even though those rubber bands were skinny, there were only nine wrapped around the cork.

She was also quite pleased to see that two of her numbers, pom poms and LEGOs, were very close to the actual amount.

In one simple project that took me less than 10 minutes to set up, we practiced estimation, skip counting, and graphs. And, we had a lot of fun together in the process. Not bad for one simple math game!

If you enjoyed this estimation station math invitation, the above photo is perfect for sharing on Facebook or you can share on Pinterest.

You may also enjoy one of these fun math games:

Pick Two – A Fun LEGO Math Game

Counting On Card Game

Driveway Hundred Chart

Paper Plate Addition Game at Better Than Homework

Statue of Liberty Math and Measurement

March 7, 2013 By Terri Thompson

No trip to New York City is complete without a trip to see the Statue of Liberty.

So, as part of our virtual trip, we let the Statue of Liberty inspire a fun math experiment.

The question we tried to answer: how many Lizzies (or AJs) would it take to be as tall as Lady Liberty? To find out, we had to do some Statue of Liberty math.

Play with measurement and nonstandard units with this fun Statue of Liberty math activity. It's a fun addition to an American symbols unit.

Learn about the Statue of Liberty

We began with a simple book, Statue of Liberty by Lynda Sorensen, to learn all about this famous American symbol. (Note: this book is unfortunately out of print. The Statue of Liberty by Lloyd G. Douglas would be a good substitute.)

We learned about when it was built and how it was shipped to America. We learned about what it represents.

But, most importantly to this experiment, we also learned how tall it is: 305 feet. I got out the calculator and translated it into inches: 3660 inches tall. Then I measured each girl in inches.

Statue of Liberty Math Activity

Next, using a roll of brown wrapping paper, we made a scale model of the Statue of Liberty at 36.6 inches.

Now it was time to measure.

We talked a bit about nonstandard units of measurement, because we weren’t going to use a ruler to measure. We were going to use ourselves. I made tiny squares to stand for each of the girls. (And when I say tiny, they were less than 1/2/”!)

I showed the girls how to measure with their squares. We laid it down, drew a line along the top, and then placed the square on top of that line. They moved up and up and up until they reached the top.

When we were done, we counted our spaces. Lizzie topped off at 62, and AJ at 64. They were wowed!

But were we correct?

Well, I’ll admit I expected we were not. The girls at 3 and 5 weren’t exactly precise. But, they did their best and definitely learned a lot. They were able to better visualize just how tall the Statue of Liberty is and they learned a fun lesson in nonstandard units of measurement.

How far off were we? About 10 units for each girl. Not bad for a preschooler and a Kindergartner using tiny pieces of paper! I think the next time we use nonstandard units, we’ll try measuring with our full bodies!

Have you ever measured with nonstandard units? Give it a try with this Statue of Liberty math activity.

You may also enjoy one of these New York City inspired activities:

Cityscape Printmaking

Statue of Liberty Dress-Up Kit

Subway Acrostic Poetry

New York City Books and Resources

Math Activities for Kids