Kids are all abuzz this time of year and why not use this to your advantage. Here are some fun math activities (for primary to upper elementary students) that take advantage of the festive holidays:
1. Gift Giving Budget
Bring in a variety of ads from toy, department, and grocery stores and give each student a budget and have them pick out gifts or plan a party. Here is a budget form freebie. You can also use these ads to estimate percents. Or have kids go on a percent treasure hunt and bring in ads/flyers/catalogs that show different common percents and assign points: 50% is worth 10 points, 25% is worth 10 points, anything not ending in 5 or 0 is worth 40 points.
2. Christmas Countdown Number of the Day
Each day write down how many days until Christmas. Use this number as the “Number of the Day.” You can ask questions, like “Is it odd or even?”, “Add 10”, “Add 100”, “Use it in a pattern.”
3. Twelve Days of Christmas Multiplication Discussion
Use the song Twelve Days of Christmas – lyrics here – to ask some fun multiplication questions. For example, “If there are two true loves, how many french hens would there be?” They can even draw or make holiday decorations to match.
4. Symmetrical Christmas trees and Snowflakes
It’s fun to teach symmetry using real-life designs. You can teach basic symmetry by having your kids cut out simple Christmas trees. You can go to the next level and teach turn symmetry through cutting out snowflakes, here is a simple lesson with designs (not in English).
5. Draw Crazy Candy Canes
Provide long narrow paper, you can even use cash register tape, to have your kids draw long and goofy candy-canes. Write out a variety of lengths (inches, feet, or yards/centimeters or meters) on pieces of paper and have each student or partner draw one and then draw a candy cane to match in length. Or they can roll two dice to tell them how many inches long to draw it. They would make fun classroom decorations too.
– Thanks for reading and I hope you have a lovely holiday season, now check out this other wonderful holiday math tips!
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