Category — Math Activities

You probably never thought something as fun and easy as making a placemat would also develop important skills. This activity, great for any celebration, helps children with small muscle coordination and patterning which is an important math skill.
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In celebration of Earth Day make these beads from paper you would normally throw away or recycle.
Materials:
A variety of paper (magazines, comics, wrapping paper, etc.)
Scissors,
Glue,
Pencil
Yarn
Directions:
1. Cut strips of paper measuring about 4 inches long. The width may vary from 1/2 – 1 inch depending on the size of bead you want.
2. Wrap the strip of paper snug around a pencil.
3. Glue the end of the bead.
4. Slide the bead off the pencil.
5. Make enough beads for a necklace or bracelet and string them with yarn.

The math connection is stringing the beads in a pattern using color, size or both.

Download Conversation Hearts Activity Graph

This is a fun activity to do with any colored candy but especially fun at Valentine’s to do with Conversation Hearts.
What you will need for each person:
A graphing sheet
Conversation Hearts
Before you begin estimate how many Conversation Hearts you have then check to see how close you were to the exact number.
1. Classify the hearts by color
2. Cut out the squares on the graphing sheet.
3. Color a square for each heart. If you have 8 pink hearts you color 8 squares pink.
4. Create a bar graph by placing all the squares with the same color together as shown in the photo.
5. Talk about the graph. Ask questions like; which color has the greatest or least squares? Are there any the same? How many more or less does one color have compared to another color? What is another way to classify the hearts.

During the winter months many birds benefit from fat in their diet so why not make a suet bell or suet pine cone bird feeder with your grandchildren.
You will need:
Fat (lard or drippings from a roast or bacon ). If you don’t have enough fat you can add unsalted peanut butter.
Filler (bird seed, dried fruit, cookie or cake crumbs).
For each ½ pound of fat you will need 1 pound of filler.
Paper cup
String
Make a small hole in the bottom of the paper cup and insert the string. Be sure it is long enough so you can hang the bell on a tree branch. Tie a not on the inside of the cup so the string won’t pull through. Leave some string hanging inside the paper cup.
Melt the fat in a heavy saucepan and add filler. Mix well. Let the mixture cool slightly then pour into paper cut. When the mixture has hardened tear off the paper cup. Hang on a branch and see what birds come.

There are lots of activities to do once the suet bell is hung.
1. Predict and count how many birds will come in 10 minutes.
2. Predict and count how many different birds will come.
3. Take a picture of a bird eating the suet bell and write a poem or a story.
4. When your grandchildren leave, keep an eye on the suet bell and call or write them about what you’ve noticed. How long until it was all eaten.
5. Make 2 bells, one to keep at your home and one for your grandchild to take home. They can call or write you about what they have noticed.
For a pine cone bird feeder, I used the same mixture and spread it all around the pine cone. Hang with string or wire.

More Bird Feeder Ideas

With football season in full swing, here’s a fun activity for the WHOLE FAMILY.

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This easy activity can help children with patterning, rhythm, coordination, reading, spelling. Boy, that’s a lot for something so simple.
Directions:
1. Print & cutout the activity cards (at least 3 copies).
2. Arrange the cards across the floor in any order creating a pattern.
3. Turn on some music or sing a familiar song while doing each movement in order. Each movement can be 2, 3, or 4 counts depending on the music.
There are so many variations, you could even do 2 together. I left one blank card so your grandchild could create their own movement.
Download Movement Patterning Activity

This is a fun and easy math activity for your kids grades 2-5.
Print the Activity Sheet

This is so easy you can do this in the morning with your kids or grandkids and serve it for lunch. Anytime you give children an opportunity to measure it builds their skill in understanding numbers and what they represent. It also helps them understand capacity and volume. So something as simple as cooking together not only creates a special memory, but it also builds math skills.
Freezer Strawberry Jam
2 c sugar
8 c strawberries, chopped or pureed
1 – 6oz pkg strawberry Jello
Bring berries and sugar to boil.
Add Jello, stir until completely dissolved.
Put in jars or plastic containers. Let cool and freeze.

Organizing things in categories is a fun way to help your child with math. Using scissors can help develop small muscle coordination and eye-hand coordination. You probably didn’t realize how important these simple tasks are to your child’s development. This activity can give them lots of practice.

Cut out pictures of food from the newspaper or magazines. Organize them in categories and make a book.
Some categories might be:
Foods that are alike (fruits, vegetables, come from an animal, etc)
Colors
Foods you like or dislike
Healthy or not so healthy
Taste (sweet, sour, salty)
Create a balanced meal

Idea from Classroom Connections, Deseret News

Download Bear Pattern Print the bear pattern on cardstock weight paper. Cut-out the shape and punch holes where marked. Use yarn or string to lace. You can let your grandchildren create their own pattern to lace.