Nokuna

Curriculum Corner

Holiday Mathematics

Believe it or not, Easter holidays are upon us and Term 1 of school has come to an end! Holidays can be a great opportunity to practise maths skills with your child…and we are not talking about maths drill and practise sheets! We are talking of making maths fun!

 

Here are some great ideas and lots of practical activities you and your child will enjoy -

 

Play the license plate game:

This is an all-time favourite – there are so many variants to play it, so the children will never get bored in the car again! You can also adapt this game to your child’s math level.

  • While you are driving, kids have to find which number plates are odd and which ones are even. As an extension, they can point out which ones are prime
  • Another way to play is for kids to try to make up the largest number from a license plate by rearranging the numbers
  • According to math level, kids can add, subtract, multiply, or divide all numbers in a license plate. (If you have more than one child, see who can do it faster)
  • For an extra challenge, ask them to use the numbers in a license plate to make the number 24 by using any combination of the orders of operation

Play Board Games:

Playing board games with the family that involve math skills – here are some all-time favourites:

  • Bingo, Snakes and ladders, Uno, Monopoly, Battleship and Yahtzee

At the end of the day, no matter what board game you play, if you make your child keep track of the score, they will be doing math.

 

Making Sense of Time

Making up a schedule for the day which includes the start and end time for each activity. Ask your children to predict how long routine activities will take, such as a walk to the park, a drive to the local shops, etc. Let them keep a track of actual time and see if their estimate was close or not.

 

For older children, the following activities are a good practice of their mathematical skills:

  1. Encourage your kids to buy wisely. For example, if you are planning on buying them a phone, ask them to explore different phone plans and show you which plan is the most economical and why.
  2. When purchasing discounted items such as clothing, ask them to calculate the discount and tell you how much it will cost before you buy it.
  3. When at the grocery store, ask them to analyse different product costs and select the best options (e.g. look at the price of toilet paper per sheet rather than the price of the whole package). And ask them to estimate the total to be paid while waiting at the register.

There are some great apps and websites too, that kids can use to practice their numeracy skills such as Matific, Khan Academy, Prodigy etc.

 

Don't forget to save the date:  Mathematics Parent Information Session 6:30-7pm - Tuesday 7th May .  This will give you tips and tricks on how to support your child at home with Mathematics!