Here are some ideas to incorporate Math in daily activities. Whether you are cooking a family meal, shopping, taking time with family at home or on the land, there are so many ways that math can be part of fun family time.
- Counting things around the house
- Identifying shapes of objects inside and outside
- Talking about time
- Looking at the Calendar
- Cooking and Math
- Using Math outside
- Shopping
Counting – Look for things to count at home
- Number of fruit, crackers, peanuts, in a bowl, etc.;
- Guess how many items in a container, then count them;
- Count out and divide the number of food pieces for each to eat;
- Find numbers on food packages: What is the weight in grams, the volume in liquids?
- With toys and games: How many Lego blocks do you have? Do you have more blue blocks or red? Can you count them by 2s, by 5s, by 10s?
- (Gr. 5 and 6) Look at the Food Label on the package: What size is a serving? How many calories in a serving?
Guess how many peanuts.
Are there more red or blue blocks?
Identify the shapes of objects around the house and outside
What color, shape or size is it?
What time is it?
Talk about time
- Ask children these questions:
- What time is it?
- How many minutes before we eat?
- How long does it take to do something (to do 20 jumping jacks; to pick up Lego blocks, etc.)?
- How long is one second, one minute, one hour?
- While watching TV: How long is one commercial? How many minutes before the show ends?
Calendar Time
- Ask children these questions:
- How many days are there in a week, in a month, in a year?
- How many more days before the weekend?
- How long before the next birthday?
- Can you name the days of the week, months of the year?
In how many days is your birthday?
How many muffins each for 6 people?
Cooking and Math
- Have children measure out ingredients in your recipe, or cereal as a snack;
- How much is one teaspoon, one tablespoon, one cup? Ask: Is one teaspoon more or less than one tablespoon?
- Have fun with fractions! Try challenging your child to measure ¼ cup, 1/3 cup, ½ cup. Which one is greater? Which fraction is more?
- Name the fraction: When cutting pizza, pie or cake, ask how many equal pieces?
Money
- Point out numbers on sale tags. Ask: How much is this?
- Save your grocery bill and have kids count the total number of items; find the total cost; find the most expensive item; find the least expensive item;
- Ask: Find the amount of bills and coins to pay for some items on the grocery bill.
Do I have enough money for milk?
How fast are we going?
Outside
- Notice numbers, ex: in the car – speedometer, on speed-limit signs. Ask: How fast are we going?
- What temperature is it outside today?
Photo Credits
Peanuts. By City Foodsters. CC 2.0 Licence. https://www.flickr.com/photos/cityfoodsters/15392253304
Bricks. CC0 Licence. https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1054948
Close-up photo of Calendar. CC0 Licence. https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-calendar-close-up-composition-273011/
Pumpkin Muffins. By Robert Couse-Baker. CC 2.0 Licence. https://www.flickr.com/photos/29233640@N07/6508604949
Canadian change. By James Cridland. CC 2.0 Licence. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/4543165648
Clocks. CC0 Licence. https://www.pexels.com/photo/london-new-york-tokyo-and-moscow-clocks-48770/
pillow “GoodNARA pillow” by TheBetterDay is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
table “Deco_003” by FredioChen is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
ulu “Inuit Ulu” by cambridgebayweather is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
stop “Inuktituk Stop sign 2004” by Stickerkitty is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
speedometer “speedometer” by Sean MacEntee is licensed under CC BY 2.0
money “American and Canadian coin currency” by daveynin is licensed under CC BY 2.0
