3 Ways to "Fall" into Math with Fun

Makinya Ward
Sep 27, 2016 8:00:00 AM

Does your child love to jump in the leaves you rake? Make that activity even more fun by counting how many times you have to rake before the pile is big enough. Then count "1,2,3...jump! Counting things you do is an easy way to make math a part of your everyday life. Children learn math best when it is incorporated into daily activities. Here are 3 more ways to "fall" into math with fun:

shutterstock_423132934.jpgWhat Goes Together?

One of the fundamental math concepts is being able to sort and classify things based on size, shape, color and other characteristics. Children become intensely engaged in the challenge of comparing things and then counting how many are in each group. Deciding how to sort something, or seeing that something can be sorted in different ways (by color or by shape) develops important math concepts. Give your child fall things to sort like:

  • A bucket of different colored and shaped leaves.
  • A bag of mixed nuts in shells.
  • Different colors or sizes of apples or pumpkins.

After sorting, your child can count the number of things in each group or even make them into a graph.

M&M Falling Leaves

This fun game lets kids learn about subtraction. Here is how to play:

  1. Draw a tree with branches on a piece of paper.
  2. Give your child a handful of fall colored M&Ms or cereal to put as leaves on the tree.
  3. Roll a dice and count the dots.
  4. Have your child make that number of leaves fall off the tree.
  5. Continue rolling, counting and subtracting.

Keep rolling until all the leaves have fallen down. Play again. Don't forget to eat the leaves when you are done!

Apples and Seeds

Another important math skill is learning to match objects with written numbers. This apple seed game does just that.

  1. Cut 10 apples out of paper.
  2. Number them 1 through 10 (or 1-5 for younger children)
  3. Let your child color the apples.
  4. Use sunflower seeds or black beans for seeds.
  5. Turn the apples upside down and mix them up.
  6. Turn an apple over, read the number and then put that number of seeds on the apple.

Want more? Try measuring and counting while making pumpkin muffins. Or line up a row of pumpkins by size. Do you have other fun fall math ideas? Share them in the comments.