Springtime Multiplication or Counting Fun

Brooke and Taylor were studying multiplication and D was learning how to count when spring arrived so I came up with a fun project to help supplement what they were learning.

We took some old magazines and punched out all sorts of spring shapes in many different colors.  This ended up being a fun project in itself!  The kids loved finding different patterns and making shapes that had stripes or eyes. 

Then they arranged the shapes in groups to represent various multiple equations.   After we were done, we had a nice piece of art work with a reminder of how the multiplication system works.

If you have different levels of learning you can make a key where each symbol represents a certain amount for more challenging equations.

Since we have different levels we are learning at in our home, I adapted this project for D who is learning to count.

There were groups to represent each number.  For example, 1 golden sun, 2 trunks on the tree, 3 rabbits behind the tree, etc.  I especially had fun with the number 4, see if you can see why (there are two separate pictures, each have two special surprises in them):

The kids loved seeing themselves (and their big brother Nick) hiding behind the flowers. 

Fraction Math Lunch

The kids like when I make "surprise" lunch for them and during our first week back at school one of our lunches was a math lunch. I thought it was a good way to incorporate a lesson on fractions. I served one child in quarters, one in thirds and one in halves. We had quesadillas (very easy to cut in fractions), apples and juice served in a big glass measurement cup. I used measuring cups as drinking cups and Scrabble tiles for place names.

For dessert I filled glass measuring cups with milk to the fraction that coordinated with that child's lunch and served mini pies in the same way. It was a great lunch and the kids loved it!