Hide and Seek Math

Incorporating math lessons in toddler and preschooler activities have been pretty easy.  You know, count stairs when you climb...buttons on a shirt...dividing sandwiches in halves and fourths.  But moving out of basic math principles is so not my thing.  Ask my husband, I still don't have my multiplication tables memorized.

But, my big one likes math and numbers and needed more challenge.  Here's a fun beginning addition and subtraction activity that he loved.

I took a stack of index cards (one of my keep-on-hand tools) and wrote out the numerals 1-10.  On another stack of cards, I wrote out 10 basic math problems whose solutions corresponded with the number cards.  Make sure you have each number covered or it kind of kills the game.  Not that I know from experience or anything...

While I was doing this, my big kid was given the task of drawing out his ten favorite Sesame Street characters (I gave him a size restriction) and writing their names on another piece of paper.  We are huge Sesame Street fans in this house!  This kept him busy while I figured out the math problems.

The buttons are what I had on hand to use as "counters."  We've used pennies, beans & beads too.

After the big kid finished cutting out his pictures and names, I sent him into the other room while I hid the characters under the number cards.  I put the names next the coordinating match problem.  Trying to sneak in a little literacy lesson too.  The big kid was seriously fighting me on the reading thing when we did this activity.  I didn't push him to read the name but just implied that it was a hint to who he would find.

My big kid thought this hide and seek activity was great fun.  I loved that it met my criteria for a successful activity: fun, challenging for developing brains and the energy expended by mom to prep the activity didn't exceed the time and energy spent by little hands enjoying it.

Keepin' it fun...

In an alternate reality, I am an awesome homeschooling mama.  I get up at 5am to lay out our lessons for the day, which I have spent hours researching and planning.  For the rest of the day I engage my brood in activities that promote their creativity, problem solving and higher order thinking skills.  In that reality I don’t have cellulite or an addiction to chocolate.   Hey, it’s my alternate reality I can be hot if I want!

In this reality, I drag my butt out of bed at 6am kicking and screaming to try to squeeze in a workout before my kids jump out of bed 100% ready for their first adventure.  Homeschooling is not the right choice for my family.  I know it and I’m okay with it though I still aspire to that most days.

So, we do a lot of educational activities at home.  The goal is always fun b/c children learn best in the context of play.  And they learn when the lessons are relevant and meaningful.  That means that we do very little drill & practice type activities.  The kids' interests guide our exploration which means that we've done everything from dinosaurs to robots to castles.  I see princesses & babies in our future!

Of course, all our fun activities serve another purpose.  They combat boredom, and not just the kids'.  This is one of the secrets of being a stay-at-home mom that I wish someone had warned me about.  It can be mind-numbingly, want to gouge out your own eyes with a fork for a break from the monotony, boring.  Or maybe it's just me that gets bored.  So, selfishly, I like doing a variety of activities to keep myself entertained as well as feeling a little like that awesome homeschooling mama from time to time.

I'll share some of our ideas for activities so maybe you can keep yourself from getting bored your kids challenged and stimulated!