Archive for the ‘Math fun’ Category

While you're lighting fireworks, grilling burgers, and waving the flag on the 4th of July, don't ignore the math history lessons. We know -- many people think the words "summer" and "math" go together like ice cream on hot dogs. But the fourth of July presents a wonderful opportunity to teach your children about amazing American mathematicians.

Introducing fun summer math activities calendar for July. Don't miss these fun holidays and activities.

Math skills can be hard to retain during summer vacation. Kids may spend hours reading books at the beach and doing crafts at camp, but when do they practice math? Kids who practice math over the summer will have an easier time transitioning to back to school, while kids who don’t may lose a couple [...]

Summer is finally here. It’s time for some outdoor fun with family and friends to celebrate Independence Day. The Forth of July is a great opportunity to incorporate summer math games with U.S. history lessons. Here is a great arts and crafts flag math activity that will have your kids popping like a firecracker. Flag math [...]

Lights, cameras, math geeks! The typical A-lister is a parfait of perfection: golden hair, blinding white Veneers, and a multitude of creative talents. But there's a secret math geek lurking beneath the polished surface of each of these celebrities.

To a kid, there are no sweeter words than summer vacation. No more pencils, no more books…. But this doesn’t mean they can’t have fun learning this summer. Research shows avoiding the “summer slide” can have a profound effect on your child’s learning development. You may already know that DreamBox Learning is a wonderful source for [...]

by Dawn Morris, M.A. of Moms Inspire Learning I can remember making “trains” with upright dominoes as a child.  It took a long time to set them up just right, but then it was so much fun to watch them falling into each other so quickly! It was kind of like watching a tiny roller coaster [...]

My giggling 6 year old traveling companion had to call his friend to tell him. So when we got home we went looking for more number jokes!

Happy Wordless Wednesday: Just Another Beautiful Day in MathLand

Win a mathematical adventure for your child! Enter the SuperKids Sweepstakes for a chance to win a 3-month subscription to DreamBox Learning - a $38.85 value. The contest ends April 30, 2009 so now's the time. To enter, simply fill out the form provided through the link above (information will not be shared) and a winner will be randomly selected. It could be you!

Here at DreamBox, in our blog and in our monthly parent updates, we talk a lot about the importance of relating math to everyday activities with our kids. My own son has a gift for art and is especially interested in animation. (And while his math test scores are high he’s never been especially motivated to focus on math.) But a memorable way to help kids understand the connection between learning math concepts and something they enjoy in the real world is to ask them what their favorite animated movie is. The animated movies that younger kids love can be a good jumping off point for helping them understand the unlimited possibilities of learning math.

The box claims this game is appropriate for ages 3+. It’s wrong. There’s just no way. Where do I even begin? There are so many chutes and ladders that it’s difficult to discern each individual box on the game board. It’s also hard for my three-year-old to know if she’s moving towards the right or the left. (The board is a series of switchbacks. Start from the bottom left corner and move across to the right. At the end of the row, move up one row and progress from right to left.) Although there are arrows at the end of every row, this does nothing to help when her piece is in the middle of the row.

World Maths Day (or World Math Day) was a smashing success. There were 2,001,570 total participants from 204 countries and a world record of 452,681,681 total questions answered in 48 hours. Congratulations, mathletes. What a wonderful math game!

World Math Day starts this Wednesday, March 4! The event is free and open to students ages 5 to 18. Have you registered yet? Registration closes four hours before the event starts, so register soon if you're going to participate. Here are some fun facts about World Maths Day.

I never liked this game, not even as a kid. However, I recognize the positive benefits of playing games with my 3-year-old Elle, and I could never deprive her of this experience. No matter how painful. However, I’ve recently been saved from some of this pain. I must thank Geetha B. Ramani and Robert S. Siegler of Carnegie Mellon University for their article Promoting Broad and Stable Improvements in Low-Income Children’s Numerical Knowledge Through Playing Number Board Games.