Thinking and Doing Math at Home
Kindergarten
Ideas from The University of Chicago School Mathematics Project
- Take a walk, count the steps - by 1's, 2's, 5's, or 10's.
- Visiting a new town? Choose a building and count the number of windows.
- Count the number of cars going by. Add a special interest by looking for a certain color.
- See how many times your child can bounce a ball before it stops.
- While eating a small snack (crackers, raisins) count backwards.
- Start a family collection (pennies, shells, stones) and count the collection from time to time. Is it growing fast or slow?
- Plan a picnic. How many friends will be eating? How much of each item will you need?
- Line up food items to go in the cooler and count them. The _________ goes in first, the ________ goes in second, the ____________ goes in third, and so on.
- Look around a museum, name five things that are above your head, name five items that are below your head.
- Have a treasure hunt. Find something small, find something large: little-big, thin-thick, taller-shorter, and so on.
- Bake a snack, how many numbers can you find in the kitchen.
- Measure the house with a long string.
- Use the calendar to keep track of the days.
- Practice time by checking the TV guide for the time of a favorite program, then look at the clock and discuss how the clock will look when it is time for the show to start.
- When it's time for yet another snack, take a handful and estimate how many you can fit into one handful, then check your estimation. Which family member gets the largest snack?
- Guess how many wheels you can find at your house. Then search through the garage, toy basket, and cleaning closet. Try it again a few days later, only set a timer. How many can you find in just five minutes?
- Have a geometry search while shopping for groceries. (Jint-the cracker shelves hold quite a variety) Buy a circle one week, a square the next, then a hexagon, can you find a rectangle, triangle, or oval? Extend it into 3D shapes too!
- While driving, look for numbers and add two together.
- Get some laundry help! Have your child match socks.
- Visit a farmers market and ask if your child can weigh your purchase. Which fruit or vegetables will probably weigh more or less? How many tomatoes can you buy for one pound?
- Have some water fun. Start with one cup, then pour it into other containers. Does it still look the same? Is it higher or lower, why? Which container will hold the most or the least?
- Take a hike and look for patterns in nature. How do leaves look the same or different?
- Make a list of all the different shapes found in traffic signs. Be sure to look for shapes inside of other shapes!
- Make chalk shadow drawings of your child's body. do it in the morning, early, and late afternoon. Discuss how the shape of the shadow changes during the day.
- Record the temperature. Practice reading the numbers. Will you find 100?
Just keep thinking, you're sure to come up with more of your own ways to find math everyday!
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