School holidays are a much-needed break for children. After a heavy term there’s nothing quite as nice as being able to sleep in a bit, relax, go away, visit friends, and so on. However, it is also a time when many children lose some foundation skills in maths. A bit of regular maths practice can help children keep up their skills over the break, with a little help from parents. Maths practice doesn’t have to mean worksheets at the kitchen table. With a little creativity, you can sneak it into everyday life in ways that feel more like play than work.
Here are some fun, low-prep ideas to keep your child’s maths brain active over this Easter holiday:
1. Set up a ‘Maths Jar’ filled with short challenges on bits of paper. Each day, your child picks one to complete.
2. Cook with your children. While cooking, ask your children questions about measurement, time, and fractions. Ask your child to help double a recipe or measure ingredients.
3. Shop with your children. Set a budget and let them plan a meal or snack within that amount. They can compare prices, calculate change, or work out which option is better value.
4. Play board and/or card games with your kids – especially games like Monopoly, Rummy, Battleships, Uno, or dice games like Yahtzee.
5. Older kids can be asked to plan out a holiday trip over the Summer holidays. Ask them to gather costs involved, research places to stay, exchange rates of currency and so on.
6. Mental Maths On the Go – ask your child random questions during the day to do with timestables, adding or subtracting numbers, doubling and halving, time, estimating distances etc…
7. Pick up a puzzle book or print some brain teasers to make a DIY ‘Holiday Maths Book.’ A good website to try is www.brainbashers.com
8. If you’re willing to let your child go onto a computer, there are a plethora of maths platforms that can help your child practice his or her maths. Try any of the following which have a range of maths-specific practice and/or maths games: TTRockstars, Khan Academy, BBC Bitsize Maths, Numbots.
The holidays rightly should be a time to relax and recharge, but a little playful maths each day goes a long way. Whether it’s baking a cake or playing a game of cards, you’ll be helping your child keep their number skills alive without any groans or moans.
Wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday!
Parent problem of the week
Without using a calculator, can you work out the value of the square root of zero point 2 to the power of minus 2?
Hint: the value is a whole number, i.e. no decimals.
Solution to last week’s problem
Last week’s problem in retrospect was a bit too difficult. My apologies. The problem was:
Find the next two numbers in the sequence:
6, 24, 60, 120, 210, …, …
The solution is as follows:
1x2x3=6
2x3x4=24
3x4x5=60
4x5x6=120
5x6x7=210
6x7x8=336
7x8x9=504
So the next numbers are 336, 504.