SCIENCE ACTIVITIES: The Armadillo Indicator | Construction Challenge Activity | Exploratory Walk | More Science Activities MATH ACTIVITIES: The Outline of Things | Fractional Parts the "Tan" Way | Building Viewpoints | More Math Activities These math activities are from the Math for All and Math for All--Plus video series. The activities help children to use mathematics in their daily lives and to learn math concepts through games and other fun activities. In this game each player will need 15 pennies or chips. Decide who will be "heads" and who will be "tails." Flip the coin; if it shows heads, the player who chose heads places a penny on the table; if the coin shows tails, the other player places a penny on the table. The first player to place all of his/her pennies or chips on the table is the winner. Play this game three or four times, keeping track of who wins each game. This game helps your child develop skills in statistics and probability. In mathematics, a game is "fair" if all players have an equal chance of winning. In this game, did the same person win each time? Did each player win about the same number of times? Do you think this game is fair? In this activity your child will write his/her name on a grid over and over until the entire grid is filled. Then with a favorite color of crayon, color in the first block that has the first letter of your child's name. Do this throughout the grid. Can you see a pattern? Use a different color for each letter of the name and have your child look for a pattern. (You may have to help young children with this activity.) Patterns are everywhere! Your child will discover that math is made up of patterns. They will become skilled in spotting patterns and develop skills in geometry and a sense of space. Using beans, macaroni or play money in place of real money, you will help your children guess (estimate) and then figure out which is a better buy --10% off or $10 off on items that are priced at $50, $100, or $120. Use each bean or piece of macaroni to represent $1. 10% off on a $50 jacket - If a jacket is on sale for 10% off, we can figure out the new price by using beans to represent real money. Make 5 piles of 10 beans each; take one bean (10%) from each pile. Count the number of beans you now have in all of the piles: 50 beans less 5 beans = 45 beans. Translating beans into dollars, the new price of the jacket is $45. $10 off a $50 jacket- Figuring out $10 off is easy. Using a pile of 50 beans, take away 10 beans. Count the beans you have left -- 50 beans less 10 beans = 40 beans. $40 is the new price of the jacket. Which was the best buy--10% off or $10 off? This activity helps your child understand math by developing a sense of numbers and by practicing estimation. Using several real-life activities your child will see how much math can be used in getting the best buy. In this activity you will compare the capacity of a 12 oz. soda can and a 2 liter bottle. Estimate how many cans of water you think it will take to fill the bottle and write it down. Think it over. If you need to, revise your estimate before you start filling the bottle. Now use the 12 oz. soda can to fill the empty 2 liter bottle, keeping track of the number of cans of water you use. How close was your estimate? About how much do you pay for a six-pack of sodas? How much for a 2 liter bottle? Which is a better buy--the cans or the 2 liter bottle? This activity helps children develop estimation skills they can use in comparison shopping and in making informal decisions.   Activities Home Home | Catalog | About Us | Search | Contact Us | Site Map | Tweet | © Annenberg Foundation 2013. All rights reserved. Legal Policy