Interesting Mediums for Math Practice
Math practice, especially just rote math practice, can be very boring. But I’ve found that presenting math on new and interesting mediums can persuade a pretty reluctant child to practice their math. We regularly find new ways to practice.
I remember the first time I saw a dry erase board. Vividly. It was Take Your Daughter to Work Day and I got to accompany my dad to work. Which, as cool as it was, was incredibly boring. I got stuck in a board room for hours (probably like 10 minutes, but I was like 8, so it was hours) with just a white board. It was brand new and I was allowed to write on a small corner of it. It was awesome though and entertained me for hours (minutes).
Well white boards are much more common now and you can get a $5 one at Target. So we got this nice small one. We actually bought it for entertainment on our latest plane trip and it was amazing. We drew and played games. It was quiet. Great airplane entertainment.
For math, we use it for so many concepts. We have a larger dry erase board that we use while going through our curriculum but this little board is great for other math activities. Playing board games, racing math facts, etc. The fact that it’s a dry erase board gets the boys pretty excited.
Ironically, chalkboards were boring in my day, but they are totally in right now. We found this little chalkboard laptop in the Dollar Spot at Target. I wanted to make my own but when considering the cost of chalkboard paint, wood, and chalk, you can’t beat $3. I don’t know if they still have this, but even regular chalkboards should be fine!
So basically, we just use this when we need a bit of practice and someone isn’t feeling it. Combined with dice, it’s amazing for math facts.
Sticky notes are crazy fun so why not incorporate them into math? I’m thinking Missing Addend Sticky Notes would be great fun. Life Over C’s has illustrated this Make 10 with Sticky Notes Activity and I think it’s pretty awesome.
What other mediums do you use to practice math to make it a bit more fun?
