How to Have Fun With Math and Common Core for Every Student

Math and fun rarely go hand in hand. From a student’s perspective it can be the source of anxiety rather than enjoyment. It is rigorous, sometimes boring, and often frustrating. With all that being said, can we make math fun? Sure, we can. Children and teens have been learning through games and toys for generations. This isn’t stopping anytime soon. Now, we have some cool new ways to do it!

Math All the TIme

First we must understand that fun with math does not stop when homework is completed. We need to keep up the math fun even after school work is done. This way math isn’t a chore or a hassle but an awesome part of everything we do.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to simply listen to your child when they have questions about, really anything. Because the enthusiasm to learn new things wanes around 5^th or 6^th grade, when the new things get more difficult, this is when we kick up the fun with math. When your child asks why you have to leave at a certain time, ask them what they know about telling time. For example, you can ask if they know how many minutes are in an hour and then explain that leaving at this time allows you enough minutes to get to the destination in enough time. Depending on the child, you can even ask them to calculate how long it will take.

Get Competitive

This is simply one example. There are many ways to help keep the math party going. Children can be highly competitive. Let that work for their math skills. Playing math board games like Battleship, Dominoes or even Sudoku, will get that competitive edge out while working on math skills. There is also a ColorKu for younger math stars.

Each child is different, but math is everywhere. What is your child into? If you have a baseball fanatic start recording statistics for their favorite team and players. Have your child keep them up to date and check in to see how the team is doing. If your child is more a fashion star, plan, measure and calculate the best fabrics for the next Runway outfit. Go to your local fabric store and tally up the costs. If you have a star-gazer learn beginning astronomy with them and help them track stars in the night sky and calculate the movements of the constellations.

Math on Screen

Lastly, almost every child has a dependable screen of some sort: a tablet, phone, or computer, or any combination of the three. The best part is, math is there too – and not just in the mechanics. For the Mac or PC some great, free, parent and teacher approved math learning sites are Mathville, Dreambox and Cool Math Games, the last of these has a great mobile site for taking the games on the go. Speaking of on the go, here are some other top rated math learning apps for iOS and Android (ratings in parenthesis).

Math is Everywhere

No matter where your child’s interests lie there will be math and there will be a way to make math fun. If ever you are at a lost as to where to start, you have a very reliable source: your child’s math teacher. Not only will they have a firm grasp as to what is going on in the classroom presently, they can see where your child’s interest lie, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. On top of that, teachers are a wealth of information for math games and making learning fun. They’ll know what the next steps are to make math enjoyable.

Below are a few more links to help make math more of a part of everyday life and fun. Everywhere we turn there is math. It helps us understand the world we live in and communicate with each other. It helps us grow and dream. We solve complex problems and troubling situations with math. As long as we can understand the “math behind it” we can understand everything there is to know. Math is everywhere, so let’s make math FUN!

Source

https://www.learningliftoff.com/try-11-awesome-free-math-games-iphone-android/

https://www.themeasuredmom.com/how-to-make-math-fun-for-kids-ages-8-12/

https://mrelementarymath.com/make-math-fun/

https://www.oxfordlearning.com/make-math-more-fun/