Make Math More Fun

Make Math Fun With Easter Educational Activities and Games

2010-03-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

Easter Educational Activities Will Help Make Math Fun

Kids will enjoy playing with Easter math worksheets

Manipulating numbers without calling it "math" is one of the best things you can provide for your child. Holiday give us a chance to make math fun using whichever holiday it is as a background theme for educational based games. Easter educational activities are the current seasons holiday that can be used for creating different ways for kids to have fun with numbers in a bunch of different ways. This gives the kids a chance to really work on mastering those facts. If you have a fun worksheet with a riddle, a puzzle, or a game that will also bring out a little competition to the table and may-be the motivation a kid needs to have a good time playing around with numbers to make math fun.

Take a look at this sample game from Kids Easter Activities.

Think of 5 Different Fun Ways you can use this grid to make math fun for kids.

What this activity does is use the grid to create fact families. What did you come up with?

Sudoku puzzles are really popular and can be a way to combine number fun and problem solving . If you can find a decent supply of great pencil and paper games and activities along with printable math games, you coule even end up making a mini-puzzle-n-game book, kind of like what you see in the grocery stores, only these will be designed to exactly match the math skill levels that need reviewed. Easter educational activities, or any other holiday themes packets, will be easy to make. With the Internet and the ability to download riect to your hard drive, there should never be a problem finding fun math games, riddles and puzzles for any level of math.

Discover out more about how to make math fun with printable games for kids, educational Easter activities (as well as other holidays)...
... GO NOW to my website: MAKE MATH FUN! .

Use School Vacations To Make Math More Fun At Home

2010-02-15T12:26:00.000-08:00

How can you make math more fun during vacations?

Face it, our kids get bored when they are on a vacation from their normal school routine. It is just the way kids are, so it does not matter if it is the traditional ten day to two week winter holiday break in December , the one week long spring break, a long three day weekend, or the almost three month summer vacation. The fact is that when they are away from the structure that a school day, gives them, where people outside the home are keeping them pretty busy all day, boredom will set in! Parent should explore ways to kill two birds with one stone by adding variety into those vacation days, while keeping those brain cells active. Fun math games are one thing to have on hand. Easy one day science fair projects is another, that make you use your math skills while doing some simple experiments.

If young families can start early on, and do hands on projects during some free time, they will be thankful down the line that they built this habit into their regular routines. It will make leading their kids towards some fun educational stuff when bored seem like a reward and not a punishment. The number of resources out there where a parent can find some fun math games, and great science projects are are endless Once you find some that are teacher created, kid tested, and have proven that they pass the cool factor, you will be set.

This may be hard to believe, but one of the best things a child can say to you is, "I am bored." Really it is a fact! Because that lets you give the absolute best possible answer, which is "Oh, I am so sorry for you; I know you will figure out something to do." It is really important for kids ( adults too) to be able to find ways to fill up their free time, it is one of the best creative problem solving situations you have! so, if you started early, and established the habit of doing these fun hands-on games and experiments, your kids will know they are there and where to find them. Hopefully, they will on their own know how to make math more fun and get out one of the activities or go to the computer and download a great science project boredom buster.

It is really simple to establish these kind of habits in your family's normal course of events. the first thing to do is go online and really search for some good, high quality digital products. The best ones were written by teachers and used with kids. Home school parents have come up with a lot of these sorts of things as well. Starting in kindergarten, get into the habit of have things set up and ready to use over the long weekends. One time it might be a fun math game another time it could be a home science project for kids. Same thing with longer vacations. You won't try to make them do these things everyday, but at some point you can bring out a hands on activity that you know they will enjoy. As the kids grow older, what will happen is that you will gradually move from being the one to have everything set up and materials available to handing over the decisions to the kids and let them pick the projects they want to have on hand.

It is important to remember that vacation is vacation, and everyone's brain needs time off as well. If our brains did not need a break, then there would be no sleeping in our lives. Everyone has had the experience of feeling sharp an ready to go the first day back to work after a vacations. Kids need the same thing. However, that does not mean we promote brain couch potatoes! You want to get the kid's brains actively involved in fun math games, great science projects and othere puzzles and games so they can use reasoning skills, and learn something while they are at it!

SUGGESTIONS: These are some things I found, and think will work well for most parents to have on hand. I am sure there are other things out there , but at least this will show you what I am talking about. Look for free giveaways, newsletters that will give you some free games an activities.

This is a link to information on how to make math more fun with digital math games, holiday themed activities for all ages and skill levels. Once you have something like this, you are set for years to come.
CLICK HERE: MAKE MATH FUN

Here is an amazing resource for home science projects for kids. These were created by a teacher/mother, with four kids who
CLICK HERE: ONE DAY SCIENCE PROJECTS

Look At The Pros and Cons Of Using Fun Math Games to Make Math More Fun For All Students

2010-01-25T11:47:00.000-08:00

Decide for yourself!

The Pros of fun math games:

Kids think they are getting out of doing work. The truth is they are doing more work than they would have with worksheets.
Motivation to play a game is stronger than doing a pencil and paper assignment.
Lets the kids move around, gets rid of the "squigglies."
Builds cooperative learning.
Creates positive bonds between different students.
Multisensory experience. The students see, hear and do as they play games. Add manipulate objects and you have the best hand on learning lesson.

The Cons of fun math games:

Too much importance on winning. One poor loser will ruin it for everyone.
The classroom will be too noisy.
It takes too long to learn the rules and find the best small groups.
Classroom has no way to move things around so kids can get into game groups
Teacher does not want to take the time to prepare and print out the games.

The bottom line:

Once all the games are created and organized...
Once the basic rules of the games are learned...
Students can get set up and ready to play in a jiffy.
There is nothing better than multisensory reinforcement activities.
You cannot go wrong. These games are perfect resource to use to make math more fun.

Ready to make math more fun? Use this link for information on an all in one resource of fun printable math games and activities that are teacher created and kid tested.

CLICK HERE: MAKE MATH FUN

Seven Ways To Have Fun With Math Using Math Card Games

2010-01-15T10:51:00.000-08:00

Kids today are always coming into class and asking teachers if they can play a game today. It gets annoying at times! Math card games however, are the perfect way to keep daily flash card drills going, but insert that practice into a card game. Here is an article I wrote awhile ago about seven different ideas you can use to bring card games into your classroom. While reading, you will hopefully think of seven even better ideas you can use!

Have Fun With Math Card Games - Seven Ways to Use Card Games in Math Class

By Sue Gnagy Fegan

http://ezinearticles.com/?Have-Fun-With-Math-Card-Games---Seven-Ways-to-Use-Card-Games-in-Math-Class&id=3092332
Using a deck of cards in math class can be a quick fun way to have fun with math. A perfect way to quickly review or reinforce math facts and concepts is for students to have fun with math card games. It does not matter if you use regular cards (Ace to King) and make up fun math games to use with them or create specialized decks based on math fact drill or concepts being taught (i.e. fractions, factors, place value). What does matter is that the students are manipulating these cards and actively involved in retrieving the answers and having fun at the same time.

Use a deck of fact cards when playing a board game. Simple as can be, roll the dice whatever number is on the dice is the number of fact cards that must be read before moving.
Make memory matching sets. The problem on one card the answer on another. Be careful not to have too many problems with the same answer. This kind of memory game should only have about 10-15 problems, 20-30 cards total.
This leads to playing what we used to call war. The answer takes the problem. Add a second or third set so multiple problems and answers are there to make it interesting. Another variation would be have only problems, no answer cards and the highest answer takes the cards.
Use a standard deck of cards (Ace -King). Play any traditional card game, but make the student do something with the numbers. If it is a discard game, they add or multiply the card being discarded to the one already there. If it is one where you place three of a kind , or three in a sequence down you have to do something with them, add the all up, add the first two subtract the next one. Name all the factors using the numbers and so on.
Use a standard deck (A-9 only) for place value. They have their decks of cards, call out a number see how long it takes them to find the numbers and get them in the correct order. Face cards can be commas.
Fun Card games where you fish around for cards. This is based on an old favorite where the players have 4-5 cards and pick up from a scattered pile and ask others if they have certain cards. The goal is four of a kind, placed on the table. Put problems only on the card. The question is, "Do you have a problem with the answer ____?" Make sure there only four problems with the same answer.
Use a popular card game with numbers, colors, wilds, skips and Draw 2/4 cards. Play it with the standard rules. The wilds would change the operation. Start out adding, every time you put a card down you add it to the one already there. Older students keep a running total. When a wild is played the operation changes. A teacher will have to decide if they want to mess with division!

As you can see the possibilities are endless, these are just some ideas to get the creative juices moving and help you think of ways to have fun with math card games in your math class. Card games can be quick and a great reinforcement drill as students do not mind seeing the same facts over an over again when a bit of competition is thrown in.

TIME SAVER TIP:
Discover creative math card games created by a teacher and used in classrooms to make math more fun for your students.
CLICK HERE

Make Math Fun--Parents Need To Avoid Passing Negative Math Feelings Along To Their Child

2009-12-17T10:21:00.000-08:00

This is a make math fun article I wrote about a common concern for parents who grew never believing that math is fun, and pretty much just hating math. They feel that they will never be able to help make math more fun for their own child. There are all kinds or reasons why people grow up with this kind of math phobia. The point is, you do not want to influence your own child and have them grow up with the same anxiety about math. This article gives you some ideas of simple habits to get into and things you can do to make math fun in your house and hopefully many negative feelings.

Math is Fun - Tips For Parents - Avoid Passing Your Dislike For Math to Your Child

By Sue Gnagy Fegan

http://ezinearticles.com/?Math-is-Fun---Tips-For-Parents---Avoid-Passing-Your-Dislike-For-Math-to-Your-Child&id=3118308

A common question found in educational forums is, "How do I avoid passing my dislike for math to my child?" These parents will cringe at the statement, "math is fun." They have an extra challenge beyond normal parenting concerns as they want to hide their dislike for math from their child. There are many reasons why an adult might have this severe dislike of math. The key issue for these parents however, is not what went wrong for them, but to put all that aside and focus on creating a positive atmosphere to make math fun for your child. The article will give a few tips to get a parent started.

Creating a number friendly atmosphere at home is important. Begin by creating a math rich atmosphere. Early picture books to read with your child should have numbers and counting and others with matching patterns games and puzzles . Watch popular PBS children's shows and quality educational DVDs . The parent who dislikes math needs to create a math is fun atmosphere for themselves as well. Begin by actively participating in all activities with your child. This way you will have some fun with early math ideas and establish a positive relationship with your child.

Once the child starts school, it is a good news bad news scenario. The good news is teachers take control of math education. If you created a rich foundation, they should be prepared to take it from there. Homework is for the teachers, not the parents, so separate yourself from correcting homework. That is the teachers job. Encourage conversation about the math homework, the student might explain what they are doing, or play school and pretend to teach you!

The bad news is you cannot disregard your quest to create a positive atmosphere at home. Finding some fun math games to play at home that match what is being taught at school will help keep the topic low key. If the parent with a dislike of math plays these fun games and activities from the get go, then they will build their own comfort level and possibly learn some math concepts for the first time, filling in holes from their own math education.

There is no reason to totally hide your feelings about math from your child. But it is not healthy to dwell on it. Something matter of fact like that math was not your favorite topic in school, but Aunt or Uncle So and So loved it, states the truth without dwelling on it. When the child has trouble with math homework one night, a confirming statement, with a hug, "I remember how it felt when I did not understand." or "Have you done the best you can?" That is all you can ask for.

Creating a positive yet rich atmosphere at home and showing how math can be used in everyday life is the best way to approach this issue. You may never believe yourself that math is fun, but you can raise children to have a positive experience.

Here is a link where you can find out about some fun math games you could have on hand to play with your child at home. They should help make math more fun not only for your child, but help you feel better about it as well!
Make Math Fun

Math Homework- Make Math More Fun By Assigning Fun Math Card Games

2009-12-15T08:53:00.000-08:00

The following is an article I wrote about using math card games as a homework assignment. The debate could go on and on about how much homework is necessary, and even if it is needed at all, but with math, the everyday practice of skills learned in class seem to make a big difference. Just think, if you were to make math more fun by having homework assignments that include math card games that actually give the same drill that they would get on a workbook page...why not try it? It would certainly be worth looking into, wouldn't it? What you could do is every once and awhile use a card game instead of flash card drills!

Make Math More Fun - Use Printable Math Card Games For Homework

By Sue Gnagy Fegan

http://ezinearticles.com/?Make-Math-More-Fun---Use-Printable-Math-Card-Games-For-Homework&id=3400720

Math homework is a fact of life. The extra practice each night helps solidify concepts being taught and creates reinforcing connections in the brain to enhance memory. Typical homework is a worksheet or two with exercises to complete or a page from a text book. Creating homework around card games that can be printed out from the computer could be just as effective learning tool while and will also be homework that continues to make math more fun even while away from school. Card games can be played with parents who are always wanting to know what they can do to help. Chances are with a card game the student will go above and beyond the call and play the game more often than the assignment says.

Innovative Involvement:

Print out a blank card game template and have the students write problems on the cards.
Give the students the cards to cut up to use in games. These can be cards already printed out or cards you created.
Give the students one copy of a set of problems to use for a card game and have them create the second or third copy needed to make the game.
Students can add to their decks of cards when new facts or concepts are taught.
Let the student think of ways to adapt a card game they know to use fun math cards.

Happy Holiday Homework

Math teachers would prefer students to do some work over long weekends or holiday vacations.
Having several math card games for the students to play at home over the holiday will make it feel less like homework and make math more fun, even if it is a homework assignment.
Educational math games usually allow a limited number of facts to be used, so the same fact will be practiced multiple times in the course of one game.
Choose some different games that include higher level thinking skills or includes a problem solving element.

Parent Playing Practices

Students want to please their parents, so they should not be put in a situation where the work is too hard. Be careful in your choice of facts used in these card games.
Make sure the problems are ones that need solid review and reinforcement and are not ones that students only have a tenuous hold on. This also eliminated parent anxiety when they students do not know something.
Make sure the math card games sent home are based on the element of chance, this will level the playing field.
Have the rules written out clearly so the student is not left trying to explain the game.

Homework does not have to be boring and can be engaging with fun math card games incorporated into the homework mix. Whether these games are sent home for holiday homework,, over summer vacation or just for a long three day weekend, they will help to not only make math more fun at school but home as well.

It is absolutely possible for a teacher to make the materials and activities they use challenging and still have fun in their classroom and for homework. Keep your students interested, active and engaged. It makes the biggest difference in their overall learning experience.

Discover some printable math games that were created and used in classrooms by a real live teacher! Digital downloads--easy as pie---

Click Here:

Fun Educational Christmas Activites For Teachers To Use As Homework

2009-12-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

Christmas season is a busy time for teachers, so having a supply of printable Christmas activities and games to use as homework assignments will be a huge time saver. The students will be happy to have some fun stuff to do, and the teacher workload has been reduced. Everyone will be happy. Here is an article I wrote on this topic giving some suggestions on different kinds of games to have on hand.

Classroom Teachers Need Fun Educational Christmas Activities For Holiday Homework Assignments

By Sue Gnagy Fegan

http://ezinearticles.com/?Classroom-Teachers-Need-Fun-Educational-Christmas-Activities-For-Holiday-Homework-Assignments&id=3349448

Christmas comes at a time when it is important to keep the curriculum gong strong, but it is also necessary to give students a break. Teachers might include homework assignments that use fun educational Christmas activities and not have to worry about losing forward progress. Most teachers take the time to create some of these on their own, others will benefit from buying activities to download.

Here is a helpful list teachers can use when choosing fun educational Christmas activities to create, purchase or download as a printable worksheets or games:

Word Search Puzzles-Create these with programs found online or use graph paper to customize them yourself. Printable puzzles are easily purchased online, downloaded and saved. Make sure the words used are at the reading level of your students. Boost vocabulary with word search puzzles by including ways students are required to use the words independently.
Fill in the Blank Word Puzzles- This sort of fun Christmas activity might be unscrambling letters to make words, or secret messages that can be solved. Students have another opportunity to build and practice their vocabulary during an in class review or orally reciting a sentences as they review their homework assignments in class.
Math Worksheets- Christmas math worksheets are often just pages decorated with candy canes or stockings and possibly a secret word. Christmas math homework could include something different that needs reviewed or a touch up like place value, or factors or review of order of operations. Look for quality fun math games and activities to use as a fun Christmas homework assignments.
Writing Prompts- Teachers are always searching for different variety of prompts to use for writing assignments. Motivating writing prompts on a festive holiday templates are an essential resource to have on hand for classroom and holiday homework.
Story Starters- Christmas is perfect timing to put those plot charts lessons to good use use and have children write their own holiday story, with characters, conflict, the climax and a resolution. Using holiday graphic organizers to help plan the plot elements ahead of time is a good motivator. This is a perfect long term assignment, with the story due during Christmas week.
Logic Puzzles and Mazes- Logic puzzles requiring students to solve mysteries or plan ahead when making moves to win games are a simple yet effective way to get students to use their problem solving skills. Mazes are an excellent form of problem solving activity that is disguised as fun!many of these sorts of homework assignments are games can involve the family as well.

Christmas comes each year whether teachers like it or not. As the month of December progresses, then it gets harder to keep students focused. Having some fun educational Christmas activities to use as holiday homework assignments may be the perfect thing to tap into their excitement and energy, and hopefully help keep their brains focused on some academics.

Here is link to all the information you will need for where to find a ready supply of educational Christmas activities you could possibly want to not only make math more fun, but creative writing, and problem solving riddles and puzzles as well!

CLICK HERE: KIDS CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES

Discover Three Benefits Of Using Fun Math Card Games In Class

2009-12-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

I have been writing articles on how to make math more fun and the benefits of using fun math games in class. The trick of course is to make these games part of your daily lesson plan, and not just a game for the sake of playing game. The facts or math problems that are used in these games must be the very same problems that they would have found on a typical worksheet page or their flash cards.This way, they will get the same drill, only with some fun added to the mix. This article explores the benefits of using fun math card games as one of the ways you can help make math more fun for your students.

Make Math Fun - The Benefits of Using Fun Math Card Games Explored

By Sue Gnagy Fegan

http://ezinearticles.com/?Make-Math-Fun---The-Benefits-of-Using-Fun-Math-Card-Games-Explored&id=3370784

Using fun math card games during math class can be an effective educational tool as well as a way to make math fun for the students. Besides the obvious benefit of giving students a break from their routine, math card games are an effective multisensory reinforcement tool. They provide extra repetitive drill, and innovative ways to practice the same thing, using the same set of fact cards in a variety of different ways making it seem new and different. This article will discuss these benefits in greater detail.

Benefit #1 - Multisensory Reinforcement
Math card games provide an excellent source of multisensory reinforcement as part of a well rounded educational program. What a card game does is give the students something to hold, touch and move around while they see the facts on the cards and hopefully say them as well. Manipulating the cards in a variety of games, whether it is matching, making decisions on which answer is higher or creating groups of similar attributes, they all require manipulating and manipulating is a highly effective multisensory tool.

Benefit #2- Extra Repetition Drill Opportunity
When you play a card game there are a limited amount of facts that can be used. Most games require multiple use of the same fact for matching or making groups. In a regular deck of cards there are four of each number. Any fun math card games created will have a similar spread. As a result, when playing a card game, the same fact will present itself over and over again requiring the student to say and solve the problem each time If those same facts where placed on a worksheet, the complaints will begin about "I did that one already." In a game you will not hear any complaining.

Benefit #3- Variety Allows The Same Thing To Look New
Teachers can go crazy thinking of a lot of different ways to practice the same facts to help the students learn without getting bored and to make math fun for their students. There are many varieties of card games that are familiar to us and never ending adaptations. Then there are new card games clever teachers create with new and innovative twists. With all these varieties, practicing the same facts over and over again, will seem like a new activity with each new version of a game played.

Acquiring a supply of unique and interesting card games to use in math class that will help make math fun for the students will be beneficial to all. The students will be happy to play games and help their memories absorb the facts and the teacher benefits by keeping educational quality alive and breaking the routine with something fun at the same time.

It is absolutely possible for a teacher to make the material and activities they use challenging and still have fun in their classroom. Keeping the students interested, active and engaged makes the biggest difference in their overall learning experience.

DISCOVER: Information on some math card games, and other printable math games for kids that can be instantly downloaded to your computer. Created by a real live teacher!

CLICK HERE:

Parents Use Printable Games At Home For Making Math More Fun

2009-11-30T11:05:00.000-08:00

Parents should not shy away from playing math games with their children while at home. Board games and card games are easily adapted to use with math flash cards and printable board and card games downloaded and saved on your computer allow for a never ending supply.

Here are some suggestions of times to play math games with your child:

On a night there is no homework.

Pull out a game, and have some fun.

Use flash cards with the spinner or dice. Whatever number rolled is the number of cards that need read.

Printable games can be adapted so multiple skill levels are played at one time.

Use familiar card games and adapt then to bring math facts in

When your child is home sick.

Parents are always calling school to try to go get make-up assignments

When a child is sick, they often have trouble concentrating, particularly if they missed the explanations in class.

Playing a fun game, that uses their math skills, but is not too taxing will give them time to think about math without the pressure.

Snow Days!

Need I say more?

Also works for Hurricane Days, Flood Days, No Electricity Days

A Rainy Sunday Afternoon

A great low key kind of time to sit and play a fun games with your child.

Get some math practice in at the same time.

School Vacations

Not while away on a vacation trip, but a vacation from school that lasts a number of days or weeks.

Having a supply of board games for making math more fun will solve those, "I don't have anything to do!" moments.

Keeps skills current and helps prevent the vacation memory loss teachers notice.

Using these opportunities to play math card and board games with your child will help make math more fun for all.

Finding a high quality resource,written by a teacher and used in the classroom, that can be downloaded to your home computer will create a supply of printable card and board games and other activities that can be used for years with children of all ages.

Check out my Make Math Fun website for some great activities parents can use at home

Some of these games might be strategy games that push higher level thinking skills and are quite a good way of making math more fun at home since parents can get into the strategy while their children end up practicing their math facts.

For Directions to Make Go Fish Card Game a Fun Math game go to Ezine Articles: Fun Math Card Games--Three Simple Ways to Adapt Go Fish

Here are Directions to Make the Card Game Rummy a Fun Math game. Ezine Articles: A Fun Math Card Game- Three Simple Ways to Adapt a Game Called Rummy

FYI:
Printable downloadable materials by the way pay for themselves so quickly. the cost is usually averages out to about a dollar a day for the first month, then it is paid for and yours to use forever. When there is a sale, like at holiday times the cost is even better. These also come with a no risk money back guarantee.

Make Math Fun: http://thesue-teaching-tips.info

Four Basic Teaching Principles Justifying Playing Fun Math Games

2009-11-23T19:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my thoughts on the underlying teaching principles involved in making math fun for your students by using fun educational math games with your students. If you take the time to figure out great ways to work these games into your lesson they can be quite effective.

Provides Opportunity For Reinforcement of Math Skills

Consistent drill that is repeated over and over again is one of the best way for facts to be memorized
Drills work best when spread out over a number of days or weeks.
Playing fun math games provide more drill opportunities than using flash cards will.
With games, the same facts might be encountered twenty times and the student will not even notice since they are focused on playing the game.
Just try showing your students the same flash cards twenty times and see their reaction!

Forces the Students To Use Pencil and Paper

The kids expect instant and digital interaction since this world has forced educators to put pencil and paper aside in favor of online activities.
Printable math games provide a fun way to force the children to use pencil and paper.
Using pencil and paper is powerful educational tool as you remember what you write much longer than what you type.

Is A Cost Effective Tool for Teachers

Saving quality educational games and activities on your hard drive can be printed out at whatever quantity you need.
They are much cheaper than buying workbooks.
Many of these games can be adapted and then used over again year after year never needing to buy a new resource.
The same board game for example can be played over and over again using different cards to pick up before rolling the dice. Keeping it current, but not using a new resource.

A Simple Formula: Positive Attitude=Positive Learning Environment

Anyone responds positively when they are having a good time. Having fun activities for individuals, or small groups or for the whole class contributes to positive math learning atmosphere.
The students will want to come to math class and want to do their homework because they know they will probably enjoy what they are doing

If you are interested in some quality educational and fun math games ...

Go To My Website

You will find fun math games, teaching tips and fun holiday activities written by a teacher and used in her classroom.

Parents Can Help Make Math Fun When Their Child Needs Extra Help

2009-11-03T16:26:00.000-08:00

Parents are often at a loss when looking for ways to help their child who is struggling in school. Those with children struggling with math can end up with unhappy, stressful, conflict ridden atmosphere at home, particularly with homework. This article was written for Ezine Articles with some ideas to help create a healthy fun atmosphere at home and how to make math fun by using printable math games and activities at home to reinforce math skills and keep the stress away.

Find Out Ways to Make Math Fun For Your Child Who Needs Help With Math
By Sue Gnagy Fegan
Level: Platinum
http://ezinearticles.com/?Find-Out-Ways-to-Make-Math-Fun-For-Your-Child-Who-Needs-Help-With-Math&id=3130728

When looking in educational forums where parents can share concern it will be likely to find the questions, "Is There Any Advice On What To Buy For My Child Who Needs Help With Math?" For a parent this can be anxiety producing as their desire for the child to do well mixed with the helplessness felt combined with the desire to keep home a safe place often causes conflicts. This article will explore three ways to make math fun and provide that extra practice you child needs all at the same time.

The first way to make math fun and not a drudgery is to include your child in every day math decisions and activities. If your child has and needs to use a fact chart, let them use it, just make sure the say the numbers out loud themselves. Doubling a recipe is a perfect way to use math, in a subtle but matter of fact way. "Help me figure out how much flour or baking powder to put in." When they get out eggs, or hot dog buns, or ice cubes you yourself can use math terms, "I need 5/12 of the ice cube tray for my iced tea." Working math into your every day conversations without making it a big deal gives the child extra exposure.

Another way to give extra practice at home and still make math fun, is to use the flash cards the teacher sends home, or tells you to buy, when playing board games. Play a favorite board game that involves a spinner or rolling dice. Roll the dice. Before moving the child must read that number of fact cards. Be sure they state the entire problem, not just the answer. There are also printable math board games available to buy that can be covered with an acetate sheet or laminated.

A final suggestion of a resource to buy for for the child who needs help with math at home are challenging puzzles, riddles, pattern designs, and problem solving books or printable worksheets stored on your computer. These are good to have when the parent and child are in sync and offering to give extra practice at home will not cause a scene. The can be bundled together to make a mini workbooks and used in the car, while waiting at the orthodontist's office, or on a snow day.

You will notice there were no computer games suggested in this article. Children often see computer games as speed challenges. A student struggling with math may not be able to solve the problems fast enough to get to the next level. Giving the child and fun math activity they can touch and feel and work at their own pace may be novel enough to motivate them an gain confidence. These are just some ideas of way s to make math fun for a child who needs help with math at home.

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Make Math Homework Fun- Ten Tips For Parents

2009-10-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

Homework and fun rarely belong in the same sentence!

Substitute satisfying, productive, more enjoyable

Read these tips and guidelines for helping to hopefully Make Math homework Fun.

Remind yourself: You are the parent, not the teacher. Your job is to provide a quiet place, enough time to complete the assignments, materials and a positive environment for your child to do their work.
Music? Yes, television? No! Use background music without words, set low enough so you can just barely hear it. This will help create a positive fun homework atmosphere. Some new age music and classical music work well. Bach is mathematical in its construction. This music should not be from their everyday iPod lists! One note- when the activity is routine, easy or does not require a huge amount of concentration, familiar music with words could be used. It still should not be their iPod music.
For the struggling math student, breaking the math assignment down into manageable chunks by creating quick and simple rewards for completion of each chunk often helps. Create a blend of snacks (not candy), drinks, points and stickers to use as rewards. Some students might prefer an all-at-once-no-stopping plan. Just be sure the option to break it down is always available.
Encourage the student to talk and move and sing while they work! Home is not school, they can make talk, sing, sit on their legs, squiggle, as long as they are focused and working! When studying for a test throwing a ball against a wall, putting the facts to music, pacing back and forth all can be helpful and reduce stress levels.
Use flash card drill assignments to make math homework fun by using them to play a game. Throw a Koosh! ball or shoot baskets while reciting cards. Get a game board out with a spinner or dice. Roll or spin and read that number of flash cards before moving.
Get a bunch of Leggos. Each problem/row/page finished means receiving Leggos. Adapt this reward by creating conditions for each size or color of Leggo. If the answer has four digits, they get four singles, or two doubles or a triple and a single. An answer that is a multiples of three might mean blue only. Be creative. When the assignment is complete they can build!
Use your Jengo blocks! As a problem/ row is completed take one block out. If the answer is odd, take off two. Try to finish the assignment before the blocks fall.
Once and awhile, if it has been a tough night, or is late, or just an unfocused kind of night, use a simple game like pick up sticks or a game board like checkers and move as each problem is finished. This allows the parent to be near the child and and keep the momentum going and prevents the dreaded head down and I'm too tired moment. By the way, the parent should not hover over the work, they need to have their own work in front of them, casually keeping track of progress, and stop when it is time to "move" a game piece.
Movement can make a difference with any homework assignment's enjoyability factors. Since so much math involves sitting with pencil and paper, look for ways to incorporate movement into the other assignments for the night, thus clearing their heads and make the brain ready for a more concentrated task of math.

Creating a healthy overall math environment at home is one of the best things any parent can do. Let the students see parents using math in everyday situations as well as having a variety of fun math games and activities for the whole family to use will contribute to the positive atmosphere needed to make math homework fun as well. Learn more...

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Halloween Homwork: Make Math Fun with Fun Halloween Activities

2009-10-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

Take advantage of holidays by having a never ending supply of holiday homework assignments. You can make math more fun, and also find creative writing, word puzzles and problem solving activities that can be used for Fun Halloween Activities that are perfect for homework. This is an article that I wrote with six different sorts of educational Halloween activities that can be used for Halloween Homework.

Classroom Teachers Need Fun Halloween Activities to Use For Homework Assignments

By Sue Gnagy Fegan

http://ezinearticles.com/?Classroom-Teachers-Need-Fun-Halloween-Activities-to-Use-For-Homework-Assignments&id=3098164

Halloween comes at the perfect time in the school year to give students a break. Teachers might give their students homework that includes fun Halloween activities without losing progress in their educational curriculum. Some teachers will take the time to create these on their own, others will purchase an activity to download. Here is a list of the sort of fun activities teachers should look for in products they create, purchase or download as a printable worksheets or games.

Word Search Puzzles These are easily created with programs found online or customized by hand using graph paper. Pre-made puzzles can be purchased, downloaded and saved for future use. The key here is to be sure the words are at the reading level of your students.Never just assign a word search puzzle without also including a way for the students to use the word independently. An example would be to write ten sentences, trying to fit two or three words in each sentence.
Fill in the Blank Word Puzzles These usually involve a particular word with some letters left blank and some additional activity to find the correct letter. It might be unscrambling. Often these worksheets include secret messages that are solved using letters from the words. Again in order to help build vocabulary, the students need to use the words from their assignments, may-be during an in class review or orally reciting a sentence as they go over homework in class.
Math Worksheets Normally math worksheets for Halloween are a worksheet pages decorated with pumpkins or ghosts and possible a secret word. What would be perfect for math Halloween homework is something different, where you might work with place value, or factors or review order of operations. Take the time to look for some quality math ideas to use as a fun Halloween activity assigned for homework.
Writing Prompts Teachers are always looking for new and different prompts to use for writing assignments. A motivating writing prompt pre-written on a Halloween designed worksheet that students to use for homework is an essential resource to have on hand.
Story Starters It is very common for higher elementary and middle school classes to begin the school year with a review of the plot chart. Halloween is perfect timing to put those to use and have the students write their own short story, with characters, conflict, the climax and a resolution. Using graphic organizers to plan out the plot elements ahead of time provides a great review of these terms. This is a perfect long term assignment, with the story due on Halloween.
Brain Teasers and Logic Puzzles Having a supply of Brain Teaser Cards to use with students during the week leading up to Halloween will give the students some problem solving opportunities. Sending each student home with some of these and challenge them to come up with solutions is a simple yet effective way to get them to use problem solving skills and to get their families involved as well.

Halloween comes once a year whether teacher like it or not. The closer the holiday comes, the harder it is to keep student focused. Having some fun Halloween activities to use as homework assignments may be just the thing needed to tap into that energy, and keep their brains focused on academics.

Here is a link to information about one of the most comprehensive supply of teacher created Halloween Educational games out there.

KIDS HALLOWEEN ACTIVITIES

Make Math Homework Fun- Tips For Teachers

2009-10-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

Do Not Let Your Students Groan Each Time You Assign Homework!
Create and Use Fun Yet Motivating Assignments
Make Math Homework Fun!

Rarely will you find homework and fun used in the same sentence. Teachers have the power to make homework fun or at least more enjoyable by being sure work is not too hard, not too heavy a workload, and by providing a variety of types of assignments that include challenging, interesting games, puzzles or problem solving challenges.

These tips will remind teachers to step back and keep homework in the proper perspective.

The point of homework is to reinforce what is taught in the class. Do not expect the students to teach themselves with a homework assignment.
Homework is not busy work. It needs to be productive and relevant to their needs.
Homework should be work that can be done independently, meaning they have enough experience with the skill, they can do it at home with little or no help. Parents are not teachers!
Where is it written homework this has to be page after page of boring problems? Incorporating a variety of activities, that address the targeted skill, in a challenging, innovative game will serve the same purpose. This does not means to make math homework fun by sending a game or puzzle home everyday, but it does mean that it will be beneficial to incorporate these innovative and challenging activities into the overall scheme of things.
If you run out of time in class, and did not have a chance to fully finish explanations, then assigning the accompanying problems will be frustrating and cause ill-will. You will just have to go over it all again the next day. Fire drills, visitors, unexpected announcements happen; it is never wise to punish the students for this by giving work they are not prepared to finish.
No one fails a class because an occasional day goes by with no math homework. To be sure, a simple no homework tonight is the best definition of a fun math homework!
Always have a back up plan! Digital printable math games and/or activities can be sent home electronically or easily printed out at the last minute for those days things did not go as planned. And yes, it is even acceptable to skip homework occasionally, the children with thank you, their parent will thank-you!
Regular reinforcement of math facts is educationally sound, so regular homework is necessary. It just does not have to be the same boring drills over and over again.
Avoid the Monday memory freeze or the first day back from winter break memory chasm by providing valuable quality but fun homework activities and games to use over the weekend or on longer breaks. This will eliminate the groan factor, but keep skills sharp
20-30 minutes of targeted, appropriate work for elementary and 30-45 minutes for middle school is plenty of time. Anything over that, promotes distaste and negative feelings toward the class.
Simple as can be, if you hate the homework load, you will hate the class and take longer to learn what you need.

Math teachers will benefit from remembering the whole picture and find a balance that works between assigning important reinforcing drills and problems, and making math homework fun by incorporating different challenging but enjoyable activities into the mix.

Learn more! Click here to Make Math Fun with innovative printable games and activities

Make Math More Fun--Truth Behind Making Learning Math Extra Fun

2009-10-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

Do Not Allow Your Math Classroom To Become Too Quiet and Boring!
Find Ways to Make Math More Fun

Happy Students=Happy Teachers

I feel so strongly about creating a classroom that is educationally sound, yet is able to incorporate fun games and activities into the every day curriculum. Making math more fun is a simple and easy thing to do. These principals can be followed in all classrooms! I have copied below an article I used several times and then took the time to expand a bit on some of the suggestions. I hope you find this helpful in your quest to make math extra fun for your students.

Fun means different things to different people. It does not have to mean “play a game.” Making math more fun (or any other subject), happens when a variety of different activities are incorporated directly into daily lessons. Making learning extra fun happens when the teacher has fun in their teaching. Making a class fun does not mean make one day a special fun day. Children do not need a whole lot to create fun, something adults often forget with the mounds of toys and activities we provide for them. Children have been known to entertain themselves for an entire day with an old blanket by building fortresses and tents. Give a child of any age a beach and a shovel and endless ideas for fun happens. This article will suggest some simple but effective way to bring fun into the daily lessons.

Fun can be music. Use a favorite tune to sing the multiplication tables. Let the students choose a song and let them put some math facts to it. Allow soft music with no words to play in the background while working.
Fun can be color. Color is so simple to incorporate! Make flashcards on colored 3x5 cards. Student can learn to hilite worsheet directions in green and the answers in orange. Run printable math games and worksheets off on colored paper. Let students use colored pencil to do the math! Middle schoolers enjoy this as much as the younger ones!
Fun can be pictures. Draw a picture to illustrate a problem or set of problems. Students can find pictures in magazine that illustrate some of their homework problems, or write a math problem of their own based on a picture they find. Find a video on You Tube that illustrates a problem or helps learn a procedure.
Fun can be construction. Use Leggos as rewards for correct answers. The color and shape and size can be determined by differing attributes in each answer. The older they are the more challenging the attributes are, again middle schoolers love to play with building blocks. Jenga blocks can also be used by printing numbers on the sides of the blocks.
Fun can be throwing. A simple soft Koosh ball or bean bag can be used in oral drill; throw it back and forth to the student, teacher asks and throws, student answers and throws back. A indoor basketball hoop in the front of the class is motivation to get an answer correct and shoot. Teach a student to bounce a ball when reciting facts on their own time.
Fun can be talking with your hands. Design hand signals for vocabulary words to help memory. Create a mantra or a chant to recite them each day for memorizing steps to a procedure, adding hand movements to go with it.
Fun can be manipulating. Math classroom are full of manipulatives, use them! Many schools use fraction tiles, or attribute blocks. Anything can be cut apart and manipulated on desks and put back together. Post it notes with numbers can be used to do problems on the desk. They can be color coded them by place value!
Fun can be an unusual medium. There are special dry erase markers that will write on windows! They also can be used on many desk surfaces. Giant pencils, pencils that are straws, can be the simple thing that make the lesson enjoyable. Shaving cream, pudding or whipped cream is a messy beut extra fun way to write answers to problems!
Fun can be interesting creative games. Games of all shapes and sizes can be used in the classroom and still be part of the daily lesson! Printable math games with pencil and paper, challenging board games, large full classroom games where students get up and move around and even outdoor activities all have adaptations available to use to making learning math extra fun.
Learn more...

These ideas illustrate that creating an atmosphere filled with fun for math classes can be simple but effective. It is important that the teacher incorporate these activities directly into lessons and not as a separate special activity or game time. This creates a positive attitude towards the class as a whole and eliminates the students pestering with, “Can we play a game today?” annoying questions. Eventually making math learning more fun will become second nature, incorporating the techniques as a matter of routine to classes of all ages.

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