Math Games for that Active Child To place it inside a nice way, my son is rather squirmy. He doesn't prefer to sit still for too long unless he's playing a video game, then it is just amazing. So rather than constantly telling him to take a seat and do his math, we go outside or up the stairs, literally. I'd like to share a number of ways we love to to "do math" when sitting still is too much. Try these games with your child and I think you'll agree that math and exercise can go together.
Stair Math
Math flash cards are often pretty boring. What you can do for your active child is defined a card on each step rising your stairs and then across the hall and into another room. Place these every foot or two. Some kids like to be timed, so get out your stopwatch and yell "go!" My son will race up the stairs as quickly as he is able to while shouting out the answers. He makes it to his room and jumps on his bed in triumph. You can do this game several times.
Flash Card Toss
This math game works particularly well at our house because there's an open area at the top of the steps that appears down on the family room. Actually, any place in your home and out is going to do, and it is ideal for a young child who has lots of pent up energy! Take a flash card and fling it as far as possible. Have your son or daughter pursue it, get it, solve it, and race back to you. You can do this until either the kid has no steam or else you injure your throwing arm.
maths games ks1Shoot 10 Baskets
There are lots of variations to this game and you will adjust it to suit your child. You are able to play with a real basketball hoop or wadded up bits of paper shooting in the trash can.
1. Have your son or daughter shoot 10 baskets and keep track of the number of they make. Do that in number of 10s, as often as you want. Next, show the scores for your child and also have them determine his average per 10 baskets he/she has made.
2. Farmville requires quick thinking. Ask your child to shoot 10 baskets after which ask him/her to tell you the ratio of missed baskets to baskets shot, or the ratio of made baskets to missed baskets. You can do this with a variety of shooting attempts and also have them answer quickly before they shoot again.
3. Another way to play is to ask them to shoot 10 baskets and determine the fraction of made shots to total shots. Next, ask them to reduce their fraction, and then turn their fraction into a percentage. They ought to do this in their head, or maybe they need to jot it down, you can supply sidewalk chalk or pencil and paper for some quick figuring.
maths games ks1Interactive Story Problems
A little imagination on your part, along with a stopwatch, makes that one fun! You are making up the story problem as well as your children act it. Here are some examples:
If [your child's name] runs from the mailbox to the back fence in [however long it requires him in seconds], and [another child's name] runs the same path in [however long it requires her in seconds], the number of minutes were spent running this route by both of them altogether?
If [name] threw the ball [measure in inches] and [Mom] threw the ball 9 inches under that, how far did your amazing Mom throw?
You are going to time your son or daughter skipping, running, hopping, running backwards, race walking, and running on all fours. But first, let him or her rank an order in which they believe they'll do these, from fastest to slowest and estimate their times. Then time them and compare with their estimate.
After that, you may make up all sorts of story problems:
Just how much faster did you skip than hop?
The number of minutes total made it happen take you to complete all of them?
Which is faster - running and running backwards vs. race walking and hopping?
These games are just a start in practicing math with your active child. I'm sure you can think of quite a few more once you begin. Something is for sure, after playing these math games, they're ready to sit down and perform some passive reading!