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No summer brain slide for your kids!



5 easy to use math tips add up to a successful summer

summer, math, brain drain

Summer is when kids’ brains can go to mush.  There’s actually a name for it: the summer slide.  Keep math skills sharp, says Mathnasium.com, by trying out these five easy ideas.  Have fun while keeping the slide to a minimum this summer.

1. Bring math into the kitchen.

So much of cooking involves math! Following a recipe uses concepts like sequencing and counting. Baking requires precise measuring, and scaling a recipe requires multiplication or division. Start with something simple, like a smoothie recipe. Once your child is comfortable following a recipe, ask them to double it, which requires thinking proportionally.

2. Play math-based games.

Any board or card games that use money, keep score, or require strategy, such as Monopoly®, blackjack, Scrabble®, chess, and Blokus®, are math-based games. Playing games can improve your child’s numerical fluency, logic, and probability skills.

3. Listen to music.

Music is inherently mathematical. The familiar patterns in your favorite songs follow a mathematical structure. Find out if your community has free summer concerts in the park. See what summer music activities are offered to children in your area. Listen to music together at home. Clap to the beat. Talk about the repeated patterns. Maybe get up and dance.

4. Watch sports and do the math.

Incorporate math when you’re watching sports together. Encourage your child to keep statistics on their favorite baseball team or player. Keep track of how much time passes between goals when you’re watching a soccer game. Compare football players based on touchdowns, yardage and tackles made. If your child plays basketball in the backyard, they can take measurements and compare them to an official-sized court.

5. Read math-based books.

Having the extra time to read is one of the joys of summer. When math is an integral part of the story, your child gets the added benefit of thinking mathematically at the same time. Some titles to look for are “Secrets, Lies and Algebra” by Wendy Lichtman,;“The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster; and “The Number Devil” by Hans Magnus Enzensberger.




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