Math and Summer Fun
What do you think of when I say summer vacation? Pool parties, band camp, sleep-away camp, tons and tons of sleep? How about math? Studying? Not so much, right? What if I told you that you could do math over summer? *gasp* Shocking I know, but it would be so beneficial to you! I’m going to give you a few ways to make summer math fun:
- Games
It may shock you to hear that yes, there are math games, and it is super easy to create your own! Think of your favorite family game and add a math element to it. Uno, for instance, is a great example! Use the cards to practice your addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills! Make the red and yellow cards negative and the blue and green cards positive and compete with friends to get the largest number using the cards you’re dealt. There are so many endless possibilities; just pick your favorite game and roll with it. Be sure to share your ideas with your teacher when you go back to school in the fall!
- Give Yourself a Project
Any project! It can be fun, informational, and interesting! Pick any math topic you like! How about starting a garden? Plant beans, tomatoes, flowers, whatever you like! Count and see how many grow per day and per week. Graph your results and decorate it. This project would make a great scrapbook too! It will also be something interesting to write about in the typical “What I Did Over Summer Break” essay you’ll have to write come August for english class.
- Math Drills
Okay, so this one doesn’t sound as fun, but if you make it into a competition with friends and get prizes involved I bet you’d have a blast! Make note cards with the multiplication tables from 1-12, perfect squares, and perfect cubes, and see how fast you can go! This will also be super helpful when you get back to school. (Especially the times tables!)
- Bake
Baking = Math! (And chemistry if you wanna get technical). Bake a cake, cookies, or bread from scratch! This will help you understand fractions (especially if you wanna half a recipe, or double one!). Once you’re done baking, decorate your cake or cookies with any theme you want (Maybe a math theme?) and then enjoy!
- Learn a New Skill
This one doesn’t necessarily have to be math! Have you ever seen something and wanted to know how to do it? Well, do some research! Take a summer class! This is a great way to expand your mind and improve your study skills. You could learn a new language or about art, or join a book club! Anything that spikes your interest.
Hopefully these things sounds as fun to you as they do to me. Remember, get creative! There is no limit to what you can do with math and your mind! Math is all around you waiting to be discovered and explored! You might just discover that you like math, and if nothing else, you will certainly do better in school if you practice some of your basic skills before fall comes around. Being ahead of the group could give you a lot of advantages in the future and in life in general.