Numeracy

Holiday Maths Fun

School holidays are all about relaxing, enjoying a well-earned break and having a good time with family and friends. But, believe it or not, school holidays can also be a great opportunity to practice maths skills with your child. When your kids are on holidays, they don't want to sit down and revise their maths problems. They want to run around and have fun while it lasts! However, there are lots of fun ways to keep your children engaged and learning how to use numbers in everyday life.

Recognising Numbers

Everywhere we go, we see numbers.

At home, kids may recognise numbers on books, toys, telephones, and on packaged food.
Outside, we can find numbers on license plates, house numbers, and advertising signs.

Play the license plate game! This is an all-time favourite – there are so many variants to play it, your kids will never get bored in the car again! This is a great game as you can adapt the game to your child’s math level.

While driving, kids have to spot on license plates each number from 0 to any pre-determined number in order (e.g. 0-10 for younger kids, 0-999 for older kids).
Kids can also find which numbers 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.

Board Games

Playing games with the family is a great opportunity to practice math skills! There are so many different board games that involve math skills – these are some of my favourites:

Bingo, Snakes and ladders, Uno, Monopoly, Battleship, Yahtzee, Risk.
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 is a great way for children to learn about time. Ask your kids to predict how long routine activities will take, such as a walk to the park, a drive to the local shops, etc.

There are so many fun ways to practice maths during the holidays.

I wish you and your family all the best for the festive season. Have a safe and fun break and see you all on Monday January 31st 2022.

Kind regards

Jennifer O’Connor

Assistant Principal