Numeracy

Maths Magic! 

There are plenty of fun tricks you and your child can work on to amaze your family and friends. Try this one out on your child before teaching them how to do it so they can me a magician to others! 

Things you need:

Pen and paper 

Calculator (optional)

The Challenge:

Ask your child to:

• think of a number, any number.
• double it.
• add 10
• halve it
• take away the original number

Now tell them you are going to read their mind by using your magical mind reading powers! 

Tell them the number they are thinking of is ……5! 

Many magic tricks are rich in mathematics. After amazing your child with this trick, explore the number magic further by:

• working with your child to do this trick with a few different numbers. The answer is always 5
• asking your child to figure out why and how this trick works
• create your own trick that leads to a different solution.