Grocery Store
The grocery store is a great opportunity to talk to your children about math! As you work through your list and make your way down the aisles, discuss the choices you are making with your children.
For example:
For example:
- - Why did you choose the item that was on sale instead of the store brand that is usually cheaper? How much are you saving by doing this?
- Why are you buying canned or frozen vegetables instead of fresh ones?
- How much of each item do you need for a certain recipe?
- How do you determine how much food to buy each week so that you know you will have enough to feed your family?
Shopping
Whenever you take your children shopping (to any kind of store) you have a great opportunity to discuss prices, sales, and the choices you are making.
Sports
Whether its basketball, football, baseball, soccer, or another sport your family enjoys, there is always a chance to discuss math! It does not matter if you are playing, at the game, or watching on TV.
For example:
For example:
- - How many more points does Team A have than Team B?
- How many points does Team B need to score in order to tie with Team A? - How many more points does Team B need to be in the lead?
- How much time is left in this quarter/inning/period/half?
- How many yards does Team A need to gain before they get a touch down?
- How many more strikes does this batter need before they are out? How many more outs are needed in this inning?
Cooking
Dinner does not have to be anything fancy. No matter what you cook or prepare, you can always discuss what you're doing with your children! Children love helping out in the kitchen and this is a great way to sneak some math and learning into their day. Talk to them about how and what you are measuring. Tell them how you know how much to prepare (based on the needs of your family). This is also a great time to discuss estimation.
Nutrition
Parents and children eat meals and snacks every day. As you are making choices for you and your family, talk to your children about the decisions you are making. Have you had all of your fruits and vegetables for the day? If not, how many more do you need for a balanced diet? Allow the children to get involved by creating a Food Diary where they can track their diets over time. They will be able to see what types of foods they eat the most often and what types of foods they need to eat more of in order to be as healthy as possible. They can tally how many foods in each food group they eat over a week and compare the amount they are eating and the amount they should be.
Ordering Food
Whenever you are ordering food for your family, talk to your children about how much you are ordering and how you decided on that amount. For example, if you have eight people eating pizza and you know that there are eight slices per pizza, you will need to determine how many pieces each person is going to eat. That will determine how many pizzas you order. What if you have five people eating pizza. Two people only want one slice and three people want two slices, are you going to have enough if you order one pizza or do you need to get two?
Sharing
How many times a day do you divide something equally among a couple of children? These are great opportunities to allow your children to figure out the best way to share. For example, if there are four cookies left and two children want them, how many should each child get in order to be fair? If there are twelve crayons on the table, what would be the best way for three children to share?
Arrays
Arrays are everywhere! An array is a group of items arranged in rows and collumns to form a rectangle. The number of rows multiplied by the number of collumns equals the total number of items in the array. Have your child go on a scavenger hunt around the house looking for arrays. Have them determine how many items are in each array. You can find a recording sheet to use in your scavenger hunt HERE.