But most parent tip sites focus on the math activities themselves. I haven’t seen much that helps parents bring a gentle teaching mindset to math activities, or helps parents make the most of everyday math learning opportunities. Here are some suggestions for HOW to nurture a life-long interest in math and a sense that math can be fun.

1. Listen for and respond to your child’s innate curiosity –- build on what he’s already interested in and he’ll be motivated to learn.
2. Don’t try to turn every situation into a textbook math problem. Turning casual inquiries into a math drill is a quick way to turn curiosity off!
3. It’s OK to start without enough information and undefined terms. Learning to ask clarifying questions is the way kids learn how to solve problems.
4. It’s ok to begin with a problem that’s too complicated. Learning to pose a simpler question is also part of learning to solve problems.
5. Don’t be afraid to leave questions unanswered for another time -– let kids mull over their ideas, giving them time to marinate.

DreamBox counts many nurturing parents in our community! We’d love to hear your ideas on how best to foster curiosity and interest in math!

How do children learn through shapes, patterns, and numbers?

All those hours of fun your child spends playing with shape sorters, puzzles, and blocks, putting pennies into his piggy bank, and helping you make cupcakes. Guess what? He is absorbing early math skills all the while playing these games: geometry, measurement, even computation. Who knew? What we want to know now is: a) when will he be able to take over balancing the checkbook and b) when will the cupcakes be ready?

Here are some of the math skills that experts have identified as essential for preschoolers to learn, plus a few parent-created activities to help you help your children learn more about the world around them.

1. Try counting beans to help your child develop an understanding of addition and subtraction.
   Keep a plastic container filled with different beans—all colors and sizes. On a rainy afternoon, spread out a sheet or blanket on the floor and pour the beans out on a baking tray on the sheet. Give your toddler different cups, spoons, muffin tins to move, sort, count, and compare beans. You can make observations about numbers, sizes, textures, colors… the variations are endless!
2. To help your child recognize and compare written numerals, create a number line.
   Create a number line from 1 to 20 on the floor with masking tape and numbers that have been cut out of construction paper. Each number should be about a foot apart. Practice counting up or down, adding or subtracting by having the kids jump up and down the number line.
3. Play ‘The Change Game’ and learn to identify money.
   Teach your preschooler to distinguish between pennies, nickels, dime and quarters by emptying out some change from your wallet and having your child sort them and count them for you! As they become more advanced, they can count up the total amount of change you have. This is a great activity for when you have to wait and keep your little ones entertained.
4. Set up a pretend grocery store and teach adding and subtracting to ten using concrete objects.
   Set up a room in your house like a grocery store. Put some of your kids’ favorite foods on tables and chairs for the ‘aisles’ of the grocery store. Then give your kids something to use as a basket and some money—real or pretend—to ‘buy’ their food. It’s a fun activity that can teach young children colors, shapes, counting, and food names. Older children can learn about making a recipe and finding food from all the food groups. And, who knows, the next trip to the grocery store might be a little more fun for them!
5. Try ‘Sorting Shapes’ to help identify and sort basic figures: square, rectangle, triangle, circle.
   Find household objects that fall into 3 shape categories — circle, square, and triangle. For instance, you can use a wallet, a coin, a ball, a piece of bread cut into a triangle shape, a tomato. Once you have many objects, about 5 of each shape, put them on a table and ask your child to sort them by shape. This is great both for sorting and shape recognition!
6. Play ‘Measure with Me’ and practice simple measurement.
   Which things in the house are taller than your child and which are shorter? Help her find out by cutting a length of string to her height and then “measuring” furniture, large toys, etc. to see which are shorter than she is and which are taller. You can also write down several household items and have your child guess ahead of time whether they will be taller or shorter. Write down the guesses and see if they were right as she makes the measurements. Learning to measure is an important skill for older preschoolers and kindergartners.
7. Play ‘Bubble Count’ to practice counting from 1-31.
   My 4-year-old made up this game, and I thought it was rather clever! As I blow bubbles, she pops them with her finger as she says a number, counting on from number 1. As the bubbles float by, she pops and counts each one until she forgets what number she was on or can’t count any higher. Tagging bubbles as they’re popped teaches one-to-one correspondence, which is essential to understanding what numbers represent. It’s a fun way to reinforce sequencing, especially for those kinesthetic learners out there! Happy popping!

More from The Savvy Source on pre-school math:

• Browse our activity guides for even more ideas to help your child learn to count.
• Take a peek at our carefully selected books and toys, especially those that help make counting fun.
• For our children, every day is a learning day. Find even more great ideas at www.savvysource.com.

• Preschool: When sorting coins, start with pennies and dimes. Quarters and nickels can be confusing because they look alike. But when your children a’re ready, comparing quarters and nickels will help them learn to distinguish between 5 and 25 cents. Preschoolers can help make piles of ten if you give them a mat with a place for each coin. I prefer a mat with two rows of 5 each.
• Kindergarten: Sort coins and count piles of ten. Later combine the piles of ten to make groups of 40 (nickels and quarters) and groups of 50 (pennies and dimes).
• 1st grade and older: Sort coins, count piles of 40 and 50. Watch to see if your child uses a strategy such as stacking one pile of ten and making other stacks have the same height. Another of my favorite strategies is laying the coins in rows of ten and making additional rows.

This takes longer than Coinstar, but the time spent engaged with your kids is worth much more than the 9% you save by doing it yourself!

Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar, by Masaichiro and Mitsumasa Anno

Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar is a math storybook for all ages
Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar, by Masaichiro and Mitsumasa Anno, is an engaging story about counting and so much more. It starts with the idea that there is a jar that contains one island, which has two countries, each of which has three mountains. This idea continues up to ten. Each page has only a little text with many pictures to illustrate the concepts. For example, on the page describing the three mountains, there are three mountains inside separate borders to help illustrate the concept.

As for math, Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar is full of concepts, both for younger and older children. For the younger kids, the story works as a counting book from one to ten. The bordered illustrations help with counting on each page. For second and third grade students, the book works as an introduction to multiplication where you can start with the smaller numbers and work up to the more difficult problems, such as eight times nine. For older children, the story introduces the idea of factorials. Students must already know multiplication in order to understand factorials, but this story does a great job of slowly introducing the pattern and building up to a full explanation at the end. As you can see, this is a great story to read with the whole family, because kids at different grade levels will relate to some part of the concepts discussed. It can also become a classic as a child grows up; you can return to it every couple of years and your child will discover something new each time!

What you can do to reinforce the ideas in Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar
There are a number of activities that will enhance the math introduced in this story, depending on the age of your child. For  younger children who are practicing counting, have them see how many houses are in your neighborhood, how many rooms are in your house, or how many jars or cans of catfood you have in a cupboard. Then compare those numbers to the numbers in the book. Is it reasonable to have six houses in a village, or should there be more?

For older children, activities should involve slightly harder math in order to keep them interested and learning. You could do a similar type of activity, though. Maybe see how many rooms there are in each village by doing six times seven. Then see how many rooms there are in your neighborhood or on your street by assuming that each house has the same number of rooms as yours. This will involve a journey outside to count houses, and then the multiplication to see how many rooms there are.

If your child is at the point of understanding factorials, the activities can start before you even finish reading the book. You can stop reading at the question, “How many jars were in the boxes all together?” See what your child thinks, and then re-read the story taking notes in order to figure out the answer together (it should be 3,628,800 or 10!). Compare your estimate to the answer, then finish reading the book. There is also a desk-arranging problem at the end of the book that your child can solve using the idea of factorials. If you are feeling creative, you can write and illustrate your own example of a factorial following the style of the book.

Whatever activity you choose to do, make sure you keep it fun. With summer winding down, your child is going to want to make the most of it!

Architecture

Tour a landmark building that has a great view of your city, like the Empire State Building or the Space Needle. Take a good look around at other major buildings,  landmarks, and geographical features  in the area. Bring math into the experience by discussing how to estimate the height of a building, when it was built, and how many people it took to build it.

When you get back:
Compare the building you visited to Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world. You can even research some of the challenges of designing tall buildings.

Sports

One, two, three, go! Whether it’s baseball, football, ski races or bowling, sports and games offer wonderful math learning opportunities. Even if you don’t live in a major league city,  minor league or local high school and college games offer fun, accessible choices. Your kids can record scores, calculate batting averages or free throw percentages, or compare win/loss records.

When you get back:
Organize your data in an easily readable way, like a graph or a chart, and discuss what the data means. Or you can compare a player or a team’s performance in this game to their average scores in all games. Considering baseball is a game of averages, what can you derive from the day’s performance?

Museum

Of course museums are rich with learning activities. But you don’t have to live near the Goudreau Museum of Mathematics and Science in New York to get math out of your trip! The key to a successful museum field trip is in finding an exhibit that sparks your children’s interests. It’s great if the exhibit is math oriented, such as optical illusions or the drawings of M.C. Escher, but there are many ways to integrate math learning with other topics. Consider having each person in the family or group rank certain pieces or exhibits you see, then find the average rating of the group.

When you get back:
Start your own collection of small objects at home that your child can sort and arrange in different ways. Your child can even put on his own exhibit, making sure that everything in it is related to a common idea.

Factory Tour

Tour an interesting factory, whether it is Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream in Vermont or Basic Brown Bear in California. Enjoy seeing how small pieces of raw materials come together into a great final product. You can even explore math concepts by discussing the steps needed to make the product using ordinal numbers.

When you get back:
Make your own ice cream or teddy bear. And don’t forget to have your child measure the ingredients or materials that you use!

Agriculture

Get outside and pick your own fruit! You’ll have some fresh produce to bring back with you, and you’ll learn a little about where your food comes from. The kids will love the treat, and you can even make the experience into a math game. For younger children, have them pick ten, counting correctly, before they can eat one. Older children can estimate how much their fruit will weigh at the end.

When you get back:
Bake a yummy dish or dessert using your fresh produce, with your children helping to measure ingredients as you bake. For a long term project, buy some seeds to grow at home. Children can research facts such as average yield and growing time. At the end, see whether it was a good investment. Consider how much fruit you grew, how much it would have cost from the store, and how expensive the seeds were.

Local places to check for more ideas

• public libraries
• local historical society
• parks and recreation department

Share your favorite homeschooling math field trip lessons with others

What field trips have worked for you? Lessons? Share your experiences by adding your comments. Want to write an entire post about a recent field trip? Send us a comment and we’ll contact you. We’d love to feature a few math-related homeschooling field trips from our readers’ perspectives.

Math Curse, by Jon Scieszka

Read Math Curse for memorable puzzles
Math Curse by Jon Scieszka is a quirky book that keeps you on your toes. From disorienting drawings to crazy questions, this story bounces all over the place and never gets boring. The thread that ties it all together is the story of a boy caught in a math curse, where he sees math problems in everything he does during the day.

Math Curse is a great story for getting your child thinking instead of memorizing or doing rote practice. The problems in the book emphasize using math in everyday situations. The questions may seem wacky at the beginning, but that keeps children interested and makes the math more memorable. The questions also illustrate many different math concepts, such as the Fibonacci series, in a way your child will understand. The math may be a bit advanced for younger children, but is appropriate for first or second graders. And don’t worry if you start getting stumped on some of the oddest questions; there are answers at the back of the book!

Activities to try after reading Math Curse
Kids can pretend they are also under the math curse. Have them write down some of the math problems they encounter during the day. Then they can can trade problems, help each other solve them, and compare their days! If they want to get creative, they can create their own books filled with the story of their day, complete with illustrations. Don’t forget to set aside your children’s books – they will be entertaining to come back to in later years to show your kids what they made and how much they’ve learned!

A Very Improbable Story, by Edward Einhorn

Read A Very Improbable Story and gain a head start in math
A Very Improbable Story by Edward Einhorn is about Ethan, a boy trying to get to his big soccer match. The only problem is that he has a cat named Odds refusing to get off his head until he can win a game of probability! The amusing storyline and beautiful oil painting illustrations will definitely keep children engaged. Be mindful, though – the content is a bit complicated, and it would be better for kids to be in first grade before they read this book.

This story not only reinforces math concepts, it introduces new ideas with its focus on probability. Going through games choosing socks, sorting marbles, and arranging cereal shows kids how math is applicable to everything they do. And Einhorn included a terminology section at the end that can help your kids learn even more.

Use A Very Improbable Story as a starting point for probability games
Don’t worry, there’s no need to visit the nearest casino. You can create your own probability games right in your own home. Of course, decorating, bringing out the poker chips, and inviting a bunch of kids over to play make the games more exciting!

If your children are old enough, you can try playing any of the classic card games. Some of my favorites are Blackjack and Steal the Old Man’s Bundle. Emphasize probability as you play. For Blackjack, discuss the composition of the deck and how there are more tens than lower numbers because of all the face cards. Have them think about what that means in terms of when they should take another card and when they should stay with what they have. For Steal the Old Man’s Bundle, you could talk about the chances of someone having the same number as the card on top of your pile. You can also modify the game slightly – instead of just matching to the cards on the table, you can collect them if they add up to the number on the card in your hand.

Want to be more creative? Have your child invent his own game that involves probability. It can use marbles, cards, dice, or anything else he can think of. Be sure to have him explain the connection his game has to probability before you start playing!

Don’t stress! DreamBox Learning’s best back-to-school article round-up makes back-to-school a sweet summer breeze instead of a tornado.

Best back-to-school breakfast recipes

Every parent envisions cooking oatmeal for their kids on a crisp fall morning before school. But who has the time? What really happens is the kids rush out the door, barely remembering their gym clothes and backpack. As you know, a healthy breakfast is a must. These quick and easy back-to-school breakfasts from the Family Corner will appease their appetites and give you an extra minutes in the morning.

Back-to-school safety list

Back-to-school season is the perfect time to reassess your child’s safety. This back-to-school safety printable tells parents how to keep their kids safe and covers everything from soccer goals to bike helmets. LifeOrganizers.com has another good safety checklist for traveling to-and-from school. When it comes to safety, stay ahead of the class!

When the lunch bell rings

Let’s be honest – most parents hate packing lunches! It’s difficult to find a nutritious, fast and fun meal that won’t be just traded at the table for a Little Debbie brownie. But don’t pay more for pre-made. Forget the brown bag and try Bento! These healthy and easy Bento lunch recipes will satisfy their palates without depleting your pocket book.

School supply shopping

Parents are feeling the pinch this back-to-school season. You probably already received this year’s supply list.  Don’t start shopping until you know where to find the best steals and deals. Barrow strategies from this  bargain-hunting mom in St. Louis.  And when it comes to new back-to-school duds, look no further than the 10 Great Kids Fashions for Under $10.

Back-to-school survival

Kids and parents aren’t the only ones going back-to-school — let’s not forget our teachers! We adore this back-to-school survival kit piece.  It tells both teachers and students what “rations” they’ll need to survive.  Teachers should pack crayons to “color your day” and animal crackers “for when your classroom is a zoo.”  Students should fill their survival kits with tissues to help “dry someone’s tears.” We could almost hear the collective “awww,” from parents everywhere.

How do you survive back-to-school? Comment below and share your favorite resources with other parents. We’re all in this together!

What is a homeschool co-op?

A homeschool co-op is a group of homeschooling families that gather together to enrich their children’s education. But every group is different with huge range of activities offered, member requirements, and levels of commitment.

Issues to consider

Most co-ops offer some combination of classes, clubs, field trips, potlucks, and parent discussions. Co-ops range widely in the types of resources that are shared or activities that are offered. Many co-ops offer advice and forums on their websites for everyone, not just members. Some co-ops exist just to use group purchase power to obtain lower prices on curricula.

There is also a lot of variety in membership requirements. Some co-ops follow certain religious affiliations or homeschool philosophies. Other groups have restrictions about age ranges or locations for their members. While many co-ops are free, some have fees to join.

Co-ops also vary in the levels of commitment required. Almost all co-ops require parents to stay on-site while their children are taking classes or attending events, so do not expect to just drop your child off and leave! Larger co-ops tend to have members sign up for the activities that they are interested in, while smaller groups might expect members to attend every event. Also look at the expectations for parents – how often should you be organizing an event, or could you work on a newsletter instead?

Pros and cons of joining a homeschool co-op

Co-ops can be a great experience for both students and parents. Children interact with and learn from a group of their peers. They are exposed to new ideas and different viewpoints. Parents share talents, each leading activities or classes in their area of expertise. Parents also gain a supportive community, and some offer opportunities to take a break with events such as Mom’s Night Out.

However, there is also a flip side to homeschool co-ops. When you join, you are making a commitment that will take time and energy, and you have to be sure that the co-op you join is worth it. You may feel that some co-op activities have little educational value, some field trips may go awry, and some classes might even remind you of why you decided to homeschool in the first place. You are dependent on others following through on their commitments to attend and share in the work of creating classes or events.

Therefore, a lot depends on the co-op you choose to join. Each one has a different focus, values, and group dynamic. You might attend several events before making a commitment to join, especially if there is a fee for joining.

Finding a co-op near you

First, consider what you want out of the co-op experience. Are you looking to share teaching responsibilities,  or are you more interested in socialization opportunities for your students, field trips, or a chess club? How much time do you want to be committing to the co-op? Make a list of your top priorities to help you in your search.

Here are several online databases and resources to help you identify homeschool co-ops and groups in your area:

• Homeschool World (http://www.home-school.com/groups/NY.html), the website for Practical Homeschooling Magazine, which  lists co-ops from around the nation organized by region and state with a little information about each one.
• A to Z Home’s Cool (http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/regional/Region.htm) lists homeschool organizations and co-ops by region.
• Check out Homeschooler Buyers Co-op http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/, which claims to be the world’s largest purchasing cooperative for homeschoolers.
• Finally, talk to other homeschoolers in your area about groups they might have some experience with organizations that you might consider joining

Starting one yourself

Can’t find a homeschool co-op in your area that fits your needs? You might consider launching your own. Talk with other homeschool families you know to see if you can all agree on your shared goals. Be aware, though, that you have to make sure everyone is on the same page about the needs and the level of commitment for the group. This will be a lot more work than just joining an already existing co-op, but it can also be the best way to find exactly what you need, and it can be very enriching for your whole family.

Number cookie cutters from Amazon

Last month we had some good kid time in the kitchen as we developed our monthly DreamBox newsletter on Kids’ Kitchen Math. In fact we had such a good time we’ve made it part of our regular routine — our summer routine anyway. So we were happy to find a new addition to our kitchen math toolset: number cookie cutters! I found them on Amazon for $8.

Naturally that led us to search for the right recipe for making some delicious numbers. We tried shortbread cookies first, which, with just a few ingredients, are very easy to make. But the kids really liked the real sugar cookies best. These sugar cookies bake with a nice crisp edge so the numbers don’t puff up — they stay recognizable! And they have the added benefit of being fun to decorate. If you use the candy decorations, kids can count and sort them by color and shape, see how many they need to decorate for each person in the family to have 2 cookies, and count the cookies to see how many dozen they made in all. Then you can time how long it takes to clean up the kitchen.

I think my plan is working — the kids are begging for more numbers!

How Big is a Foot? by Rolf Myller

Summer is full of wonderful outdoors activities to take advantage of the beautiful weather. But what about those rainy days when the children are full of energy and have nowhere to go? Sounds like a great day to sit down with a fun book and start a somewhat more controlled activity, maybe even one that involves math.

Reading How Big is a Foot? for math beyond the regular curriculum
How Big is a Foot? by Rolf Myller is one of the cutest books I have seen. With simple illustrations and large, easy-to-read text, this is the story of the attempt to build a bed for the Queen’s birthday. But how can you build a bed when no one knows how big to make it? This is a great short story for kindergartners, although older children may find it too simple.

Mathematically, this story explores new ideas that your child may not have had much exposure to yet. Instead of focusing on counting, this book focuses on measurements. Through the problems caused by non-standard measurement, the story explains the need for standard measurements that everyone understands.

Learning activities to explore after reading How Big is a Foot?
While reading the book is a great start, children often learn better when they have a hands-on activity. In this case, activities that reinforce the concepts in the book require almost no preparation and are lots of fun. You can act out the book by having your child measure his own bed with his feet. How does that compare with your feet or a measurement taken with a ruler? Can you find a way of estimating the standard measurement of an object based on a measurement using your child’s feet? Go try it out with more objects!

If your children are full of energy, you could even arrange a scavenger hunt that takes them all around the house. Give them a list of things to find based on how long they are, but don’t use standard measurements. Use unusual objects to measure with instead, like finding something that is three marshmallows long. And of course your children will love eating their measuring tool afterwards.

So if the children are at loose ends with all their energy, steer them towards this story and these activities to get some learning in while having some summer fun.

Math Fables, by Greg Tang

Does your child love to hear the story of Little Red Riding Hood? What about the Princess and the Pea? As summer heats up and children want to stay up later, reading fables could be a great addition to their bedtime routine. But these aren’t just any fables. Here’s the latest in our summer math reading series, to help your little ones settle down after an active day, help them exercise their mental muscles, and keep math fresh in their minds.

Read Math Fables for lessons that apply every day

Math Fables by Greg Tang is one of his many books that incorporate math, and this one is appropriate for children in kindergarten and first grade. The book is full of different fables, each with its own moral. But they all take place in the real world, showing your child that math is present everywhere and every day. The rhyming poems and vibrant illustrations will definitely keep kids’ attention.

And, while their attention is caught, your child will be learning about counting and grouping numbers. Although it starts small with the number two, the stories build up to more complicated groupings that help prepare children for place value concepts. The stories are especially good at showing that a number is not just an amount; it is also composed of other smaller numbers.

You can read the stories a little at a time, splitting them up over a whole week before bedtime. Or you could read the whole book and use it as a jumping off point for some fun math activities. Use the activities from the back of the book or invent your own. Try going for a walk outside, and have your child count whatever they find, from birds to squirrels to people walking dogs. And if your child gets really interested in one particular animal or plant, try creating a story around it. Your child can even write a poem and draw an  illustration when you get home.

The next step after reading Math Fables

Did you and your child love Math Fables and wish it was longer? Greg Tang has written many other children’s books that emphasize math, and all of them are great stories. Go try Math Fables Too as a continuation or jump to slightly different story types with Math Appeal or Math for all Seasons.

Or maybe you want something a bit more advanced? Grapes of Math is for slightly older children, from second to third grade. This story has quick puzzles on each page with witty rhymes to help your child learn about different groupings to get quicker answers when adding or subtracting. This helps develop problem-solving skills instead of stressing memorization. And there are plenty of activities you can explore after reading. You can try out different methods of counting the objects on each page – count each one separately, or find different groupings from the one that is suggested in the book. This emphasizes the way that grouping by an easily multiplied number is a more efficient way of counting. You can also get creative and create new puzzles and hints for each other!

So read Greg Tang’s book Math Fables together, and you might find a whole series of books to enjoy with your child!

Quack and Count, by Keith Baker

Kids have an insatiable interest in story books and they love hearing the same stories again and again. Are you getting tired of some of the classics and looking for new additions to your child’s book list? We’re doing our summer math storybook series to suggest some books that are not only great reads but also illustrate some of the math concepts that are important for your early learners! We picked Quack and Count as the second book in our series of seven.

Read Quack and Count for fun filled math learning

Quack and Count by Keith Baker is the story of a group of seven ducks and their adventures. Full of detailed illustrations and narrated with clever rhymes, this story will keep your child’s attention. Even counting the ducks can be trickier than you expect as the ducks play hide and seek! But Baker’s book is not just about fun and games.

A great story for kindergartners and first graders, Quack and Count emphasizes certain basic mathematical principles. Baker moves the seven ducks into different groupings over each two-page spread. This use of addends emphasizes the concept that each number is more than just an amount; it is also made up of other numbers. This is a great introduction to the concepts that underlie addition.

After reading Quack and Count, try these fun math activities

Are you reading to a group? Try having the kids move around a little to keep their attention. Teach them the song Five Little Ducks Went Out to Play. Then choose six children to act out the song as the rest of the group sings the song. Another interactive activity that you can use with a group or an individual is to act the story out with little rubber ducks as you read it.

Want something more math oriented for slightly older children? Have them write out the math sentences being illustrated on each page of the book (such as 7 = 6 + 1). At the end, have the children write down their own number sentence that equals seven, possibly even using three addends. Then they can illustrate their equation with drawing of ducks or any other object that they want to use.

Have fun reading (and rereading) – you may have just found a new favorite book!

One Watermelon Seed, by Celia Baker Lottridge

It’s summer time, filled with heat, sun, and plenty of time outside. But with school out until the fall, do you want to continue your child’s math learning at home? Children’s literature is a great way of getting some math into busy summer schedules in a way that they will enjoy. All summer long, we’ll feature wonderful math storybooks to keep your kids entertained and learning.

We’re kicking off our summer math storybook series with One Watermelon Seed, a juicy children’s book by Celia Barker Lottridge.

Reading One Watermelon Seed for math and more

One Watermelon Seed by Celia Barker Lottridge is an old classic with a new cover. Recently republished with new illustrations, this is the story of Max and Josephine as they plant, grow, and harvest their crops. The storyline teaches kids about gardening and its connection to the changing seasons. I enjoyed the packed and detailed illustrations, and I think your child will want to take the time just to take it all in.

As for the math, this book gets into counting in a serious way. It doesn’t just take your child from 1 to 10, but it goes all the way up to 100! So Lottridge’s book is good for children from kindergarten through second grade. Younger children will learn the lower numbers, and enjoy the pictures and the story even if they don’t comprehend all of the numbers. Older children will get a review of the basics and then be introduced to the concept of counting in groups of ten, which is good preparation for learning multiplication.

Family activities to try after reading One Watermelon Seed

Want to take this book to the next level? There are lots of interactive activities that you can explore with your child using Lottridge’s book as a jumping off point. One option is for your child to choose his favorite plant from the story and research it. How long is the growing season and when is the time to harvest? What is the usual yield and how does it compare to the amounts in the book? What are the largest and smallest specimens ever recorded?

You can start a small garden of your own, even if it is just a couple of plants in a pot. Your child can enjoy watching his garden grow through the summer, and he’ll learn how important it is to remembers to take care of it! When it’s ready to harvest, find a cool recipe and help your child make it.

If you are reading to a group of children, you can survey the kids about which plant is their favorite. Graph the results and talk about different ways you can present the information.

So have fun, get creative, and keep math in your child’s everyday life all through the summer!

The trick is to teach your kids math by combining it with fun activities. DreamBox Learning has two new free summer math printables: our Super Fun Beach Day printable, which shows you how to plan educational beach activities and the DreamBox Read-and-Learn Math List, which lists great storybooks that also teach math. Both are free and no registration required, so please take advantage of these excellent parent resources.

Fun Summer Math Printables:

• DreamBox Read-and-Learn Math List
• DreamBox Beach Day Printable

Fun summer math activities:

• Bake cookies and let your kids help you measure ingredients
• Play a rainy day math game, such as Dominoes or Yahtzee
• Go on a scavenger hunt and teach your kids to count and sort objects

Comment below with tips on keeping your kids busy during summer vacation. Are there any travel math games you play or math stories you read with the little ones? Let us know!