Summer Activities Math Challenge Grades 3 – 5
As a family, try to come up with fun and exciting ways to incorporate math over the summer! It could be playing a card game, cooking in the kitchen, or using numbers while traveling. A list of possible activities is attached. Each day you incorporate math, have an adult sign off on a box and note the activity. Return this form to your teacher in September for a certificate!
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Summer Activities List for Parents
A list of summer math activities is provided to help you get started. Choose ideas that interest your child and exercise a variety of skills. The main goal is to have fun with math and to continue using many of these math skills throughout the summer to keep them sharp.
In all activities, ask your child to explain how they came to their solution and why they believe it is a good answer. Doing this helps your child develop stronger problem solving and reasoning skills, and to become more confident in their own math abilities.
v While waiting in the supermarket checkout line, ask your child to estimate the number of items in the cart.
v Play a card game or board game with your child that involves using math skills, and discuss it with your child.
v Find a number or logic puzzle that uses math skills to solve. Solve the puzzle with your child.
v When mailing a package ask your child to estimate the weight; then watch the postal clerk weigh it to see how close they were.
v Play restaurant. Have your child create a menu with prices. Have your child calculate the bill.
v Develop a chore chart and assign values to the chores. Have your child create a weekly “bill”.
v Bring your child to the bank to open a savings account. Set monthly goals for savings and deposit money.
v While taking a long trip discuss the length of travel. Include being ¼ and ½ the way there, and the time traveled.
v Cut a snack, such as an apple or orange, into equal parts and talk about fractions with your child.
v When shopping, have your child keep a running estimate of the bill, and see how close he/she comes to the actual amount.
v Find a chart, graph, or table in the newspaper and discuss what it is trying to tell. Both parent and child can make up questions about the graph for the other to answer.
Children:
v Count all the loose change you can find. How much is it? If you counted correctly, ask if you can keep it!
v Make a list of all the jobs that require math.
v Cut out numbers from magazines and newspapers to make a number book for a younger child. Use pictures, too.
v Make a list of things around the house that are circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles.
v In a newspaper or magazine find the following: a graph, a number between 10 and 50, and a decimal.
v Make a clock with a paper plate.
v Make a time booklet. Include a daily schedule (breakfast, lunch, play, practice, bedtime, etc.)
v Cut out coupons and add up how much you can save. What was your total savings?
v Figure out how many days until school starts. How many weeks is that? How many hours?
v Write down all the different ways you can make $1.00 with coins.
v Use the digits 1, 4, 5, and 6 to make: the greatest number possible, an odd number, an even number, and an expression equal to 60.
v Use a ruler to draw a shape picture. Label each shape.
v Determine how long it is between the time you get up and the time you go to bed (hours and minutes).
v Use a newspaper or magazine to cut out numbers and letters to make your full address and phone number.
v Use a ruler and paper. Draw and label line segments in inches and in centimeters.
v List the ingredients of a favorite meal. Calculate the cost to make the meal.
v Conduct a survey about something that is important to you. Plan the survey, write the questions, collect the data, and analyze it. Graph the results.
v Learn about different kinds of money around the world. Learn how to convert one currency into another, and make a table or chart to give some examples.
v Write and illustrate a pamphlet for someone else that explains a math concept or skill that you have learned.