Making Math Fun in the Summer

In the summer, it is easy to cast aside academics and let the good times roll; but come September, when those pesky math facts are hard to remember and the beginning of the new math book seems like a foreign language, you might wish there had been a little practice here and there.

But it doesn’t have to be “schoolish.” Summer is a great time to introduce some fun new ways to learn and practice what your children have been working on for the whole of the academic year.

Ready for Rain or Rides

Math games (but don’t call them that) are great fun and perfect for rainy days, long car rides and picnic blanket lunches.

Games such as Fish Stix (by Peaceable Kingdom), Sum Swamp (Learning Resources) and Sums in Space (daVinci’s Room) are great fun for your younger crowd, math specific without seeming so.

Also, don’t forget that a good game of Chutes and Ladders or Candyland gives your young students the opportunity to count and add the dice.

Older kids may enjoy Multiplication and Division Bingo, Mobi (a tile game similar to Bananagrams) or Absolute Zero. Card games such as Pyramid Solitaire, Gin Rummy, Crazy Eights, War and

Speed are all useful for number recognition, quick mental math and score keeping.

As the kids get older, real life applications of math become competitive fun with games like Monopoly and Life.

Field Trips Happen

Have you ever considered a math field trip? Don’t worry, it can be fun. In New York City, there is a Museum of Mathematics (MoMath), which is a great idea if you happen to be nearby, but the real fun would be to use the math you’ve learned in real life ways.

For example, a visit to a ball park gives you the opportunity to calculate the statistics of the players on the field. Visiting a city?

How tall are those buildings and how short are they compared to Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world? Going on a hike? What’s the distance, how long did it take, and how fast did you walk?

Compare your stats to other hikes and see your progress.

Math can be one of those subjects that ejects groans, anxiety and angst, so summer is the perfect time to take the ugh out of equation and inject some ahhh.

Happy calculating!