This Lil Piglet

5 Ways to Maintain Kids Math Skills this Summer

Summer break is the perfect time for kids to let loose and enjoy their free time for a couple months before moving onto a higher grade level.  With all the demands the rest of the year brings, school work, sporting activities and the like, kids deserve a little break.

 

During one of my girls parent teacher interviews awhile back we were discussing her math skills, the teacher had mentioned something that stuck with me.  “Kids lose their academic skills if they are not actively learning”.  If you want to ensure that your child will have the least amount of difficulties jumping back into their school curriculum come the new school year, it’s important to keep kids minds active. Many teachers will tell you that repetitiveness is one of the main ingredients to the success of a child’s math maintenance. Simply by making a habit of reviewing, your child should be able to make a smooth transition into their new grade without much difficulty.

 

 5 Ways to Accomplish this are:

1.  Worksheets – There are a number of printable math worksheets that are a quick and easy math brush-up task.  Give your kids a new math worksheet every other day throughout the summer to keep up with their math skills and be ready for the new and tougher math year.

2.  Time Management – I have always encouraged my kids to use analog verses digital time; I have been disturbingly surprised by some kids that when asked the time on an analog clock, have no idea how to tell the time. Digital clocks are definitely easier to have around the house but without basic time telling skills, are a detriment to kids. One of the ways I helped my kids learn the basics was by buying them an analog watch to wear.  I would use phrases to test their time telling skills, such as “I will pick you up at half past 3” or “be ready at quarter to 9”.  Now that they are older, one of my favourite time management lessons for my kids is to give them a time limit to complete a number of tasks; it is up to them to manage their time accordingly.

3.  Measurements – Ask your child to measure something for you.  I often ask my kids to measure me out fractions while baking where my husband will ask the kids to measure using a measuring tape for various DIY construction projects we have going on around the house.  Surprisingly, my 10 year old, Squeakers, prefers the measuring tape tasks whereas my 13 year old, Hollywood, enjoys both.

4.  Playing Games – Playing games like dice, cards or even board games together is an easy way to brush up on math skills without noticing they are actually learning.  Some of our favourites are the 10,000 point dice game and the card games, “War” and “NOSE”.

5.  Money Management – Ask your kids to make a budget for their spending and to manage their allowance by saving a certain amount out of each week, for instance my kids are required to save 40% towards savings and the rest they can spend as they please.  This works well for older kids but when my kids were younger, I would simply tell them a dollar amount that they were required to subtract.  Another great way to work on math skills is by having your kids count out money when making purchases at retail locations.

 

Math sites for worksheets, printables and more:

Subitizing

Illuminations 10-frame

Value Placement

Math Zone

Partitioning Numbers

Place the Penguin

Base 10 Blocks

Catch 10

Addition and Subtraction

Making Calculations

2-digit Numbers to 100

Fruit Shoot Subtraction

Learn 4 Good – 2 Digit Addition

Prongo 2 Player Addition Game

100’s Chart

Dog Bone Game

Telling Time

On Time

Clock Shoot

Telling the Time

What Time is It?

 

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15 comments on “5 Ways to Maintain Kids Math Skills this Summer”

  1. Wow Stacey these are fabulous resources, we spend tons of time reviewing with one of our daughters, math isn’t her strong suit.

    • Thanks Julie. These sites were given to me from Squeakers teacher; they work so well for her that I had to share. Math isn’t her strong suit either so it’s extra important that we continue her learning through the summer; before we did, she struggled to catch back up come the new school year. I didn’t even think this would make all the difference in the world but it really does.

  2. My 14 year old is going to high school in the fall . He struggles with math. these are great tips. Thank you for sharing they will come in handy

    • Luckily math is my 13 yr old’s strong area, who is going into grade 9 in the fall. High school math will only get harder so he focuses more on problem solving tasks that Hubs gives him for our several DIY projects. His industrial arts teacher might be impressed with what he knows already. It’s easy to motivate him, if there’s money involved. LOL Hubs has taught him enough that he construct a few things and sell for pocket money this summer.

  3. You’ve compiled a GREAT list here 🙂

  4. These are excellent tips! Especially the work sheets and asking them to measure for you! Gotta keep
    their minds working!

  5. Wow, those are awesome tips and thanks so much for the links as well. I’m bookmarking this so that I can use this with both kiddies this summer. My daughter absolutely loves math (she doesn’t get that from me, lol) so I can’t wait to print some of these out for her!

  6. Great tips! I like the one about playing games – what kid doesn’t like games.

  7. Wow, this must have taken a while to put together! Thanks for sharing all the resources. My wife runs a day care and we are always looking for new ways to stimulate the kids minds. I’ll be using this for sure! Thanks!

  8. Great tips. I especially like the time and money management tips. It is so important for children to learn these skills as early as possible. Your tips will help learning these skills fun and exciting. I agree with your analysis of using an analog clock as it is so easy to become lazy with a digital one.

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