Math Enrichment Activities

Before you begin

Mathematics is an easy subject to incorporate into our daily lives. Children should be learning to count by doing it! Young children should be counting everything they see. Objects arranged in patterns is a great way for children to count and recognize patterns. Books about counting help children tie numbers to their symbols.

Learning is reinforced when all the senses (hearing, smelling, touching, and doing) are engaged. Below are some ideas to use the senses to teach math concepts.

  • Make up songs or chants about numbers or math facts.
  • Walk around the house or outside and count how many different scents you smell.
  • The following materials can be used to teach mathematical concepts: beans, feathers, rocks, whip cream, shaving cream, chalk, Silly String, Play-Doh, string, rope, yarn, sand, pipe cleaners, and candy.
  • Incorporate movement into math facts memorization. Shout math facts while tossing beanbags from hand to hand or while tossing a beach ball to another person. Many games, such as hopscotch, can be modified to include math concepts.
  • Apply math lessons to real world experiences such as when learning fractions bake a cake.

Objects used to teach math concepts are often called “math manipulatives.” They can be made at home or purchased. Below are a few resources.

Christianbook.com (Homeschool Math Manipulatives):

Oriental Trading:

Amazon:

To make manipulatives:

Helpful websites:

Math enrichment activities for grades K-8

Numbers and number sense

Activities:

  • Young children should be counting everything they see.
  • Arrange objects in patterns to teach shapes and counting.
  • Use toddler counting books to teach number words and symbols.

Counting to 100

Numbers and number symbols activities and worksheets:

Writing and recognizing numbers videos:

Comparing numbers videos:

Ordinal numbers videos:

Temperature

Activities:

Money

Kindergarteners should learn to recognize pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and one dollar bills and know the value of each. They should also understand the meaning of a dollar and cent signs. Play money may be available at Dollar Tree stores.

Activities:

  • Have children count out coins when buying inexpensive items at a store or create a store in your home and practice buying things with dollar store money.
  • Create a “play” kitchen and set up a “play” restaurant. Sometimes restaurants will give you outdated menus for educational purposes.
  • Every child should have a bank account in their name to learn “money smarts.” When depositing money in the bank, have your child count the money, fill out the deposit slip, and hand the deposit to the teller.

Money worksheets:

Money videos:

Money video with a song to learn:

Time

Activities:

  • Calendar and seasons can be taught at the same time as weather. Note when the temperature starts to cool down and warm up. Discuss holidays in relation to the seasons.
  • Make sure analog clocks are visible so your child can practice telling time. The clock should have hands, the numbers one through twelve, and each minute marked in between five minute increments.
  • Interactive clock activity: Interactive Clock: Telling Time
  • Write the room and other activities about telling time:
    Write the Room with Monster Math: Telling Time
  • Telling time games: Online Games to Teach Time

Shapes

Kindergarteners should know at least squares, rectangles, triangles, and circles.

Activities:

  • Look for shapes in objects located in your home or outside. Make a game of discovering how many squares are in a room. Circles? Triangles? Include number sense skills by placing a number flash card next to an object. For example, a table can display numerous rectangles when you include each side of the legs and the sides of the table.
  • Make shape cookies. Create the shapes with items gathered around the house: boxes, cans or cookie cutters. You can also use Play-Doh.
  • Make shapes from yarn, felt, or foam.
  • Make or buy foam colored shapes. Have your child label them with the shape on one side and the color written on the other side. Use them like flashcards.
  • Read a book about shapes. A cute book, Greedy Triangle is about a triangle who wants to be something different and has to change his shape.
  • Shape videos:
    – Learn Shapes with Morphle!
    – Sing along Shapes Song
  • Resources for teaching shapes: Themeasuredmom.com

Addition and subtraction up to the number 10

Activity worksheets:

Helpful websites:

Number and number sense

First graders should be able to count by 2s, 5s, and 10s. Teaching skip counting chants and songs are the best way to learn these. For example: 2s= 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24

Activities:

Addition and subtraction

Activities:

Money

Activities:

Measurement

First graders need to learn how to measure with rulers, dry ingredients, liquid ingredients, and a scale.

Activities:

Shapes

First graders should add spheres, cubes, and cones to their knowledge of shapes.

Activities:

Second-grade skills include counting to a thousand, simple fractions, and using a decimal point between dollars and cents

Number and number sense

In addition to all the skills listed for kindergarten and first grade, second graders need to learn to count to a thousand and count by hundreds. They also learn ones, tens, and hundreds in the place value chart.

Counting

Activities:

Multiplication

Some schools teach very simple multiplication using pictures in second grade.

Activities:

Addition and Subtraction

Regrouping Numbers: We used to call this carrying and borrowing.

Activities:

Fractions

Activities:

Money and decimal points

The decimal point is a foundational concept of arithmetic. The best way to teach the use of the decimal point is by using money. Children can see that the left side of the decimal point is reserved for whole numbers and the right side of the decimal point is reserved for fractions of numbers.

Activities:

Helpful websites:

Numbers and number sense

Adding and subtracting three-digit numbers using regrouping.

Activities:

Multiplication

The ten by ten (10×10) multiplication table should be introduced by the end of third grade. However, a third-grade student will benefit from learning multiplication facts to 12. Knowing multiples of 12 will help with counting inches, feet, and yards. Students need to know multiplication times tables for higher-level math.

Activities:

  • If students do not know skip counting to twelve, review the second grade skip counting section.
  • If students know skip counting chants to twelve, filling out a multiplication table should be easy. If not, have them fill out a table every day, while chanting their skip counting to 12.  For example: counting by 3s = 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36.
  • Time students to help them improve their speed in writing multiplication facts.
  • Create contests to improve speed.
  • To make multiplication times tables more fun, create a room-sized multiplication table. (See the colorful example below.)
    a. You will need 24 pieces of white construction paper. Write each number one through twelve on a piece of white construction paper. Make two sets.  On the floor place, one set on the top and one on the left side. (See the example below.)
    b. Next, write the multiples of each number on different colors of construction paper.  For example, in the table below, multiples of four are all orange.  There should be twelve separate pieces of colors, with 12 of each color.  (Use 144 pieces of multi-colored paper.)
    c. Using the example below, build out the multiplication table on the floor.
    d. Play various games with the room-sized multiplication table. Three examples follow:
    – Step on each number of the 3s times table, etc.
    – Find the number that equals 4×7 and stand on it.
    – Gather up all the 6s.
    e. After students become proficient with the colored multiplication table, create an all white table and practice the above activities.
  • Using sidewalk chalk, create a hopscotch for each table. (2s, 3s, 4s etc.)  Have students recite their skip counting chant, while jumping on each number.
  • Students should be filling out a multiplication table until they can do them quickly. They do not need to be colored once they can skip count.
    – 12×12 Multiplication Table Template
    – Practice Multiplication Facts Sheets

Click image to open pdf document

Multiplying two-digit numbers

Decimals

Activities:

Greater than and less than symbols

Explanation: Greater Than, Less Than and Equal To

Activities:

Fractions

Third graders begin to compare fractions. For example: 1/4=2/8.

Activities:

Helpful websites:

Number and Number Sense

Factors (Try not to teach factors and multiples together. Children get them mixed up!)

Before you begin, view this illustration to understand or teach factors.

Activities:

Greatest common factor (GCF)

Once children understand factors they should practice finding the greatest common factor (GCF). This illustration explains how to find the GCF.

Multiples

Try not to teach multiples and factors together. Children get them mixed up! Here is an illustration of the difference.

Activities:

Least common multiples (LCM)

Before you begin, this illustration will help you to understand and teach the LCM.

Activities:

Multiplication

Activities: See activities provided for third-grade students.

Division

Fourth graders should understand that division is the inverse operation of multiplication and know division facts to 100.

Activities:

  • Worksheets:
    Division Math Facts Practice Sheets
  • Students should recognize the three ways to write division problems:
    1. Division line:

    2. Division bars written like this:

    3. Division boxes:

Fractions

Fractions are recognized to 1/12 in fourth grade. Fractions must be added and subtracted by finding the common denominator.

Activities:

Adding fractions

Subtracting fractions

Activities:

Helpful websites:

Long Division

Activities:

    • Worksheets:

– Printables: Long Division

– Adding and Subtracting Fractions

Squares, square roots, exponents, and cubes

Statistics

How to create and read frequency tables: Data and Graphing Video

Worksheets:

PEMDAS (Order of operations)
Remember this as “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally”. PEMDAS should be memorized. This is the order in which problems should be worked:

P= parenthesis (and brackets)
E= exponents
M= multiplication
D= division
A= addition
S= subtraction

Percentage

Game: Percentages

Ratios

Worksheets:

Coordinate plane

Videos:

Once children understand the concept of the coordinated plane, they are ready to plot Cartesian Cartoons. This is a great website that gives you the plot pattern of different coordinated planes.  Many of the plot patterns are holiday pictures. The website also has printable numbered graph paper: Cartesian Cartoons Graphing Puzzles

Algebra

Definitions:

Videos:

Numbers Properties

  • Distributive Property:
    The distributive property can be described as a Walmart or Amazon distribution center. Numbers are distributed like merchandisers distribute products.
  • Commutative Property:
    The commutative property can be described like commuting to work. Numbers are on the move, back and forth.
  • Associative Property:
    The associative property is the friendship property of math. The numbers group together and hang out.

Illustrations of Number Properties:

Videos:

Percentage to Decimals to Fractions
Worksheets:

Video:

Geometry

Perimeter worksheets:

Perimeter videos:

Area worksheets:

Area videos:

Slope:

Illustrations:

Worksheets:

Polynomials

Definition: Polynomials

Videos:

Factoring polynomials

Illustration:

Worksheets:

Videos:

Integer exponents

Worksheets:

Videos:

Function

Definition: What is a Function?

Worksheets:

Videos:

Linear Equations

Definition: Linear Equations

Worksheets:

Quadratic Equations

Definition: Quadratic Equations

Videos: