Mixing in Math Activities
Building and Design
- Build a Bridge. Use recycled boxes and cardboard to explore what shapes make for a strong bridge.
- Building Houses. Build a house that you can sit inside. Use cardboard tubes, rolled up newspapers and other recycled materials.
- Five Second Ride. Experiment with slope, time and speed: create a cardboard slide that a toy car can roll down in five seconds.
- Giant Museum. Could you sit on a postage stamp if it were blown up to five times its size? Expand a small object, such as a stamp, dollar bill or calculator and check.
- Height Museum. Make and decorate a strip of paper as long as you are. Then, arrange the strips in order from shortest to tallest. Predict: Will the order be the same in six months?
- Picture Board. Divide a bulletin board or piece of poster paper so everyone gets the same sized-area to decorate. Then, get creative and display the artwork for everyone to see.
- Piles of Paper. Predict how much scrap paper you’ll use in an afternoon or a week. Then, pile up and measure.
- Six Squares. Contribute to a group display of shapes made from six squares. Can you come up with one that no one else has thought of?
- Tumbling Towers. Stack boxes, blocks and other objects to make as tall a tower as you can. What shapes make for a stable tower base?
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Children's Book Illustrations
- Counting Books. Make a counting book based on a book character or theme.
- I Spy Shapes. Play this guessing game with book illustrations to help children focus on shapes, sizes and details in the illustrations.
- Picture Board. Make your own illustrations of a favorite character or scene from a book. Then, find a way to arrange them so everyone gets equal space on a bulletin board.
- Rate It. Children rate different illustration styles on a scale of -2 to 2
(or 0 to 5) and give reasons for their ratings.
- Say It with Shapes. Combine poetry and graphics. Make your own poem illustrated with a pattern.
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Creative Crafts and Performances
- Catch the Beat. Make up a rhythmic pattern, and get everyone following along with you. Try a variation that involves making visual patterns to match a rhythmic beat.
- Double or More. Make your own play dough. Children figure out how to double, quadruple or otherwise increase the recipe so there is enough for everyone.
- Fair Shares. Divide up 30 or 60 minutes so that everyone gets an equal amount of time in the spotlight to recite a poem, do a dance or put on a skit.
- Filling the Time. Estimate how much you can get done in 20 minutes—how many friendship bracelets you can make or how many times you can practice your dance routine. Then, try it and see.
- Height Museum. Make and decorate a strip of paper as tall as you are. Put the strips in order from shortest to tallest.
- Mystery Jars and Make Your Own Mystery Jar. Estimate how many objects are in jars and record your reasoning. Then, make your own mystery jar and have others estimate how many are in the jar.
- Paper Bag Skits. Combine drama and math as you work in a group to make up skits using all the objects inside a paper bag.
- Picture Board. Figure out how to divide up the board so that each person gets an equal area to decorate.
- Say It With Shapes. Make repeating patterns of shapes and words to create visual word poems.
- Six Squares. Contribute to a colorful group display of shapes made from six squares.
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Cultures and Geography
- Around the World. Put a group of international cities in order by how far they are from your own city.
- Counting Books. Make your own counting books based on a particular culture or country.
- Cultural Calendar. Make a calendar for a month in India, China, Mexico or another country. Use numbers, days and month names from that country.
- Double or More. Double or quadruple a recipe from another culture to feed a group.
- Find Someone. Use age, size and other math concepts to identify others.
- From Here to There. Use a map (and the Internet) to estimate distances to faraway cities.
- Getting to Know You. Explore questions about cultures, languages and countries in order to discover what members of the group have in common.
- Guess Which One. Play this game with flags, coins or stamps from different countries.
- How Many in a Minute. Keep track of what you can do in a minute. How many hellos in another language can you say in a minute?
- Play to 10. Play a strategy game that involves gathering 10 items. Say the numbers in a different language.
- September Calendar. Calendar with ideas for exploring different cultures with math.
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Fantasy and Science Fiction
- Building Houses. Build a spaceship you can sit inside, or build a spaceship the right size for your toy dragon to fly to the moon.
- Call My Number. Play a guessing game with call numbers of books related to robots, planets, space travel, fairy tales and fantasy.
- Giant Museum. Make giant versions of small objects—postage stamps, pennies or acorns that belong to a giant-sized, fantasy world.
- Quick Questions. Cast your vote for your favorite imaginary character: orc, dragon, unicorn or something else.
- Rate It. Rate books about fantasy, science fiction and related subjects on a scale of -2 to 2 (or 0 to 5). Discuss the criteria for your rating system.
- Roaming Robot. Pretend to be a robot and follow directions to find an object.
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Folk and Fairy Tales
- Counting Books. Weave counting by 5’s, 10’s or another number into a fairy tale you write and illustrate yourself.
- Find Someone. Write your own “Who am I?” puzzles, described in the variation at the end of the activity. Use clues about numbers in your puzzle.
- Guess My Book. Spread out 15 or 20 books on folk and fairy tales, and play a game like “Twenty Questions” to identify a special one.
- Paper Bag Skits. Combine drama, geography and math as you make up a short skit using objects relating to folk tale times and locations.
- Quick Questions. Cast your vote for your favorite fairy tale character: a giant, fairy, princess, trickster or something else.
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Gameboards in English
- Close It Up. Connect the dots to make shapes that enclose as much area as possible.
- Dots. Sharpen your spatial sense as you join up the dots to make the most squares.
- Fill It Up. Twist and turn shapes in your head as to fill up the game board with shapes made from four squares.
- Four in a Line. Be the first one to capture four hexagons in a row.
- Guess My Number. Identify the secret number by asking yes-or-no questions. Vary the game with coins and calculators.
- Name Game. Use word sense and number sense to fit your name as many times as you can in a grid. Try to place your name where it blocks your partner.
- Touch and Go. Build your visual skills as you play a hexagon strategy game.
- Twelve at a Time. Explore multiplication as you place rectangles made with 12 squares in order to block the other player.
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Gameboards in Spanish
- Adivine Mi Número. Los jugadores toman turnos para hacer preguntas de sí o no para entrontrar cual es el número secreto que uno de los jugadores escoge.
- Bloqueo. Pongan sus iniciales en tantos hexágonos como pueda.
- Doce a la vez. Dibujen rectángulos compuestos por 12 cuadros.
- El Juego Del Nombre. Los jugadores toman turnos escribiendo su nombre en las cuadrículas. El ganador es la última persona que pueda escribir su nombre entero.
- Enciérrelo. Tomen turnos dibujando líneas entre dos puntos. Cuando encierren una figura, escriban sus iniciales adentro.
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History
- Around the World. Put a group of international cities in order by how far they are from your own city. Base the activity on cities or regions in which children were born.
- Call My Number. Use this version of “Twenty Questions” to engage children in exploring non-fiction books about historical topics—from dinosaurs to 20th century events.
- Cultural Calendar. Make calendars with numerals or month names from another period in history. For instance, the Romans, Babylonians and ancient Egyptians used number systems and months different from ours.
- Paper Bag Skits. Make up a short skit using objects that relate to a historical time and place, and incorporate dates and measurements.
- So Long. Make some math clues about an extinct animal (dinosaurs or more recently extinct animals such as the dodo). Cut a string as long as the animal, write down a typical weight, and record a couple of facts. Challenge others to guess what animal you have in mind.
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Holidays and Calendars
- Countdown. Run a daily count down to a holiday, change of season or special event. For an extra challenge, run an hourly count down.
- Counting Books. Count down in a book format. Each page of the book shows how many days left to a special event. Start at 50 or 100 and count back by fives, tens or another number.
- Cultural Calendar. Make a calendar page for a month in a different country or time period.
- Give Me a Minute. List as many holidays as you can in a minute. Then, explore books on holidays around the world to learn more.
- Quick Questions. Take a poll: What is your favorite holiday? Provide a list of six holidays; everyone chooses one. Then, investigate the findings.
- Penny Jar. Give back to the community with a penny or coin collection for a charity.
- Say It with Shapes. Make holiday cards that use patterns of shapes and words. Add special holiday words to the set included in this activity.
- Special Purchase. Use grocery circulars to plan a special birthday or holiday snack within a budget, such as $20. Then, buy and eat!
- Calendars. Adapt these to the current month or year, or use them as is—children will enjoy the activities on the calendar no matter what the month. Themes include games, cultures around the world, mysteries and codes, nutrition and food, holidays, fitness and crafts.
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Library Orientation Games
- Call My Number. Explore numbers, letters and decimals by asking questions to identify the secret call number.
- Count Around. Help children learn about their surroundings, become familiar with safety features and, at the same time, practice counting and collecting data.
- Find It Fast. In just 60 seconds, find a book that fits a clue. For instance: Can you find a book with a US map in 60 seconds? What about a mystery book?
- Guess My Book. Play a game like “Twenty Questions” to identify a book, magazine or other object.
- Look Around. Use clues about measurement, size, shape and number to explore the area.
- Step Into Line. Line up in order according to the number on your back—which you can’t see but everyone else can!
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Math Sections
A little background to help you facilitate math conversations.
- Animal Posters
- Count Around
- Counting Books
- Cultural Calendar
- Dots
- How Many in a Minute
- Jumping to 100
- Mystery Jars
- Quick Questions
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Mysteries and Codes
- Guess My Book. Ask yes-or-no questions (like “Twenty Questions”) to identify a chosen book.
- Make Your Own Mystery Jar. Fill a jar with objects, so others can guess how many are in it.
- Mystery Jars. Fill one jar with large pasta shells and an identical one with small pasta shells. Children estimate how many in each jar and explain their thinking.
- Piece It Together. Follow the clues to find puzzle pieces and then assemble them.
- Pour Some. Compare your own servings with the recommended serving size on the nutrition facts label.
- Roaming Robot. Follow a set of directions to find a special object. Directions involve left turns, right turns and steps forwards and backwards.
- Taste Test. Put cereal boxes in order by how sweet their contents taste.
- October Calendar. Solve the mysteries and codes in the calendar.
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Nature and the Outdoors
- Count Down. Use calendars and counting to keep track of the number of days left until summer or another season. For extra challenge, track the number of hours.
- Double or more. Increase a bubble recipe to make enough for everyone. Then, go outside and experiment with bubbles.
- Fair Shares. Divide up grapes, berries or another fruit so everyone gets an equal amount.
- Guess My Book. Build your logical thinking skills as you play a “twenty questions” game with magazines about animals and nature.
- How Many in a Minute. Keep track of the number of living things you see indoors or out in a minute.
- Look Around. Measure, count and estimate as you go on a math scavenger hunt to find books and magazines about the natural world.
- Many Seeds. Estimate how many seeds in a pumpkin, apple, or other fruit or vegetable. Then, count to find out.
- Quick Questions. Take a poll to find everyone’s favorite flower, fruit, season or bird.
- Rate It. Rate today’s weather on a scale of -2 to 2. What does a rating of 0 mean? Does everyone rate a rainy day the same way?
- So Long. Make some math clues about an animal: Cut a string as long as the animal, write down a typical weight, and record a couple of facts. Challenge others to guess what animal you have in mind.
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Nutrition and Food
Double or More. Do the math to increase a recipe to make enough for everyone.- Fair Shares. Make sure everyone gets an equal amount of a special food. Find the total amount then divide up the food equally.
- Many Seeds. Estimate how many seeds in a pumpkin or apple, then cut it open and count.
- Mystery Jars. Fill one jar with large pasta shells and an identical one with small pasta shells. Children estimate how many in each jar and explain their thinking.
- Piece It Together. Follow the clues about location and measurements to get all the pieces—then put them together to assemble your recipe. Take it home to make and eat.
- Pour Some. Compare your servings with “serving size” on the Nutrition Facts label.
- Question of the Week. Post an open-ended question about food on a bulletin board. For instance, “What’s your favorite fruit?” Everyone writes answers on post-it notes and then looks for patterns in responses. Are citrus fruits popular? What about small fruits, like berries?
- Read the Label. Raise awareness of nutrition information on food packages, and play a few games with the Nutrition Facts labels.
- Special Snack. Plan a snack within a budget. Then, buy, prepare and eat.
- Taste Test. Put cereal boxes in order by how sweet the cereal tastes.
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Poetry
- Catch the Beat. Make up a rhythmic pattern based on repeating sounds or words and get everyone involved in following along with you.
- How Many in a Minute. Predict how many times you can say a tongue twister or short poem in a minute. Then, try it and see.
- Picture Board. Figure out how to divide up a bulletin board or sheet of poster paper so everyone gets an equal area. Then, write and decorate poems for your own area.
- Rate It. Take turns reading poems out loud and then rating them on a quality such as how happy they make you feel; how much you like the words; how much you like the rhymes. Use a rating scale of -2 to 2 or 0 to 5.
- Say It with Shapes. Make repeating patterns of shapes and words to create visual word poems.
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Posters
Colorful posters about a number of different topics, available in English and Spanish. Find the answers in books or through internet research.
Coloridos pósteres sobre varios tópicos están a su disposición en Español y en Inglés. Busque las respuestas en libros o investigando en Internet.
Ten posters—questions include:
- About how many times its own weight can an ant lift?
- About how fast can a cheetah run?
- About how many words can an African Grey parrot learn?
- How long have horseshoe crabs been on earth?
- Up to how many miles away can a lion’s roar be heard?
- About how many giant pandas live in the wild?
- About how fast can pigs run?
- About how long can a giant tortoise live?
- What’s about the same size as a blue whale’s heart: a mailbox, a VW beetle, or a UPS truck?
Diez pósteres—las preguntas incluyen:
- ¿Cuántas veces su propio peso cree que puede levantar una hormiga?
- ¿A qué velocidad puede correr un guepardo?
- ¿Cuántas palabras puede aprender un loro gris africano?
- ¿Cuánto tiempo llevan en la tierra los cangrejos cacerola?
- ¿Qué pesa más, un colibí abeja o un penique?
- ¿Desde qué distancia se puede oír el rugido de un león?
- ¿Cuántos pandas gigantes viven en su entorno natural?
- ¿A qué velocidad puede correr el cerdo?
- ¿Cuánto tiempo puede vivir una tortuga gigante?
- ¿De qué tamaño es el corazón de una ballena azul: del tamaño de un buzón, de un Volkswagen Escarabajo, o de una camioneta de correos?
Six posters—questions include:
- How many pieces of art are on display in your library?
- Pick a tongue twister. How many times can you say it in a minute?
- How many seconds can you balance on one foot?
- How many colors can you name in a minute?
- How many different colors are you wearing?
- What is the length of the longest gum wrapper chain?
Creativity posters in Spanish
Seis pósteres—las preguntas incluyen:
- ¿Cuántos trabajos artísticos hay expuestos en su biblioteca?
- Escoja un trabalenguas. ¿Cuántas veces puede decirlo en un minuto?
- ¿Cuántos segundos puede mantener el equilibrio en un solo pie?
- ¿Cuántos colores puede nombrar en un minuto?
- ¿Cuántos colores diferentes lleva puestos?
- ¿Cuál es la longitud de la cadena de papel de chicle más larga?
Four posters—questions include:
- How many full moons this year?
- How many satellites are circling the earth now?
- How many stars can you draw in a minute?
- How much would you weigh on the moon?
Cuatro pósteres—las preguntas incluyen:
- ¿Cuántas lunas llenas habrá este año?
- ¿Cuántos satélites orbitan la Tierra ahora?
- ¿Cuántas estrellas puede dibujar en un minuto?
- ¿Cuánto pesaría usted en la Luna?
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Space
- Building Houses. Build a rocket ship that you (or a favorite stuffed animal) can sit inside.
- Call My Number. Play this game to launch an exploration of non-fiction books about stars, planets and space.
- From Here to There. Explore distances on a map of the solar system: if a toothpick is the distance between the Earth and the Moon, how many toothpicks away is Venus?
- Giant Museum. Visit Planet X, on which everything is five times longer and wider than it is here. Make a museum showing what you brought back from your trip. Is a dollar bill large enough to sit on? Is a pen on Planet X as tall as you are? How do you know?
- Growing Plants. Explore nature on Earth by growing plants and tracking their growth over time. Extend the activity by investigating possible conditions for plant growth on other planets.
- Jumping to 100. Instead of 3, 2, 1… blast off!, count back from 100 by fives to blast off.
- How Many in a Minute? Estimate how many stars, moons or suns you can draw in a minute. Then, time yourself to find out. Do you get faster or slower over time?
- Piles of Paper. Help conserve resources on planet Earth. Keep track of how much scrap paper you use in a week—then recycle it all.
- Pretend Picnic. What would you take with you on a picnic (or longer excursion) to Mars? Read about Mars and then play this memory and counting game.
- Tumbling Towers. Work together to pile up recyclables and build a tower to the moon. As everyone builds, engage children in talking about what shapes form a stable base for a tall tower.
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Stretching and Fitness
Catch the Beat. Follow a rhythmic pattern with three or four beats by stamping, clapping and tapping your feet.- Endurance. Choose an endurance activity, such as skipping rope or throwing and catching a ball without dropping it. Count how many you can do in a row, keep a record, and track your progress over time.
- Find It Fast. Take 60 seconds to find a book or other object that fits a clue.
- How Many in a Minute. Count how many jumping jacks, push ups or other physical activity you can do in a minute. Track progress over time.
- Is It Possible? Take a quick poll to see if everyone thinks a claim is true: If we all joined hands, could we reach across the room? If we stood on each other’s shoulders, could we reach the top of the building? Then, try it out or estimate the answer.
- Line Up. Get in order from least to most according to height, arm span or number of pockets.
- LocoMotion. Find how far you can go in five seconds when crawling, hopping, walking backwards, jumping or other ways of moving.
- Rate It. Line up according to your rating of a book, activity or your view of the day so far, on a scale of -2 to 2.
- Roaming Robot. Follow a set of directions to find a special object. Directions involve left turns, right turns and steps forwards and backwards.
- Team Up. Divide into teams or groups of equal numbers. Can everyone have a partner? Could we get into groups of three with no one left over? Try it out and see.
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Transitions, Routines and Quick Breaks
- Catch the Beat. Pay Attention! Follow a rhythmic pattern with three or four beats by stamping, clapping and tapping your feet.
- Check the Clock. Next time children ask about the time, help them check the clock and find the answer themselves.
- Find a Partner. Pair up with someone who has the same foot size, arm span or other measurement in common with you.
- I Spy Shapes. Play a quick game similar to Twenty Questions, based on the shapes of objects around you.
- Jumping to 100. Combine counting, number patterns and exercise as part of circle time or attendance.
- Line Up. Get in order from least to most according to height, arm span or number of pockets.
- Majority Rules. Take a vote. Go with the choice that at least 1/2, 75% or some other fraction or percent select.
- Rate It. Line up according to your rating of a book, activity or your view of the day so far, on a scale of -2 to 2.
- Take Ten. Predict whether the floor (or table) will be clean if everyone picks up 10 items each. Then, try it and see.
- Taking Attendance. Count off to find how many present. Keep track of attendance over time and explore attendance rates.
- Top That. Spot the largest number of a newspaper or magazine page, on the bulletin board or on the wall. What does that number represent?
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