Taking Math Outside and Sprinkle in Some Imagination

 Taking Math Outside and Sprinkle in Some Imaginition 

Are your kids excited each day to do math? Or better yet, are you excited to do math with your children? Maybe they love math and get excited to sit with their worksheets and pencil. If your kids are anything like mine, this is their worst nightmare. The second my child shuts down, it's over, and now math is my worst nightmare. I promise you it does not have to be this way! By taking math outside and sprinkling a little imagination on it, math can be fun! There are so many benefits of taking math outside that I hope you will try to make it a regular part of your routine, whether you are a teacher, parent, or homeschooler! Here are some ideas to get you started! 

Number Recognition and Value 

• Number recognition: Paint rocks! Painting is a fun and creative way to help children with number recognition. Make sure you include the symbols +,- x, -

• Scavenger Hunt: Hide the painted rocks in the yard or at the park. Call out a number, and the child has to find that number. This is a great way to get exercise and do the math. 

• Number and Quantity Match: Have your child pick a painted number rock, let's say the number 6. Then have them find flowers, rocks, sticks, etc., to match that number.
• Quantity and Number Match: Place items such as sticks out. Have the child count the object and then match the items to the number rock.

• Number Walk- Take a walk and hunt for numbers. You can even add them as you go. You can also hunt for specific colors etc. You can even roll a dice and then search for the number.

• Hopscotch: Create a hopscotch with chalk and a number inside each square. As they jump on the number, they have to say the number out. When two feet are in the box, they can add or subtract the number.

Addition and Subtractions 

• Number Bonds: This is a model you should use up to grade six. Make three circles using hula hoops, rope, or draw three circles in the dirt or with chalk. Connect three circles with a string (see pictures). For kinders, you can put 1-5 items in each of the top circles. Depending on your child's ability, you can make the number bond more complicated by creating larger numbers. Have the child "add" them together to get the total or sum and move them to the bottom circle. Count the items to find the answer—model how to write a number sentence for the number bonds (3+4=7). 

• You make this more challenging by having them find the missing part (beginning algebra). For example, place a 4 or 4 objects in one of the top circles and 10 in the bottom circle. They have to figure out what 4+_=10

• Bowling: Write numbers on cups and then have them roll a ball or throw an object at the cups. Whatever numbers they knock down, they should add them together. Using objects to help count is awesome!

• Roll the Dice and Hunt: Roll two dice and have the child add them together. Have them hunt for objects to show the math problem and then tell a story about it. Zach had five flowers, and then he found 3 rocks. How many items did he find? You can also create subtraction problems. 

• Four in a Row: Make a big grid with chalk and write math facts in the squares. Have children take turns choosing a fact and solving it. If they get the answer right, have them put a marker on the square that indicates they won it. Take turns and see who can get four markers in a row first! 

• Mud Subtraction: Create mud say a pile between 5-10. Line the mud balls up. Say you have 5 mud balls and have the child stomp on 2. How many are left? You can use rocks, sticks, and leaves and have them throw them to create the subtraction problem.

Combination of Tens (adapted any of the games above just use combinations of 10) 

• Ten Frame Game: Create a tens frame (see image above) and use painted rocks or dice. Place the five rocks/dice out and have the child hunt for five objects and place them in the tens frame. Then add the plus sign and place the four rocks out and have them hunt four items to complete the frame 6+4=10. Find as many combinations as possible. 

•  Write a math problem or use your worksheet (for example, 2 + 4) on the ground with sidewalk chalk and have your students find pinecones, rocks, or leaves to represent the answer.

• Four in a Row: Make a big grid with chalk and write math facts in the squares. Have children take turns choosing a fact and solving it. If they get the answer right, have them put a marker on the square that indicates they won it. Take turns and see who can get four markers in a row first! 
  

Place Value and Number Sense

• My Collections: Challenge students to create a collection of 10 items in kindergarten, 100 in first grade, in second grade ro1000 items. Have them collect and strategies they would use to keep track of how many they have collected and counted. Start by having Kinders collect groups of 10 and bundle them together. Once they understand groups of ten, they can make up ten groups of 100 objects each. They could put 100 items into ten piles or in buckets. They could be the same objects as 1,000 rocks or a combination of different collections like 100 rocks, 100 leaves, 100 sticks, etc.
• Place Value Walk: Start out by taking 10 steps and mark it with chalk. Mark off every ten steps. Have children estimate how far they think 20, 50, 100, 500, and then 1000 steps—Mark their estimates with the child's name and a place marker. Have them find the difference between their guess and the actual distance in steps or with a measuring tape. 
• What's my Total: Find things that total in the 10 or 100s depending on the age. What can you find? Count by tens to help you find the total. Some things that you can count are: 

• Wood planks that make up a fence
•  Rows of siding
• Rows of brick or tiles
•  Paving stones
•  Boards or nails/screws on a deck
• Spokes on bicycles 
• Plants in a large garden  
• Trees in a park

Skip-count by 2s, 3s, 5s, 10s, 25s, and 100s. 

• Workout and Count: Here is an example Workout & Count | Skip Count by 2's, 5's and 10's | Count Backwards | Jack Hartmann - YouTube
• Write a Song: Make up your own song and use sticks or other tools to keep the beat.
• Hopscotch Skip Count: Make hopscotch and pick a number to skip count by and write the boxes' pattern.
• Jump Rope or on a Trampoline: practice skip counting while jumping.
• Number Models: Create a large number line in the dirt, on the sidewalk, driveway, or with a rope and clips to show how you can use a number line to add and subtract larger numbers by taking jumps of 10, 100, 5, and ones landing on easier numbers to make the math easier 93-90-80-70-65-63. You can also make a number chart or a tape model. See video, Adding and Subtracting on the Number Line - Place Value and Multi-digit Addition and Subtraction - Bing video. 

Odd or Even. All Counting activities can be turned into an odd or even learning opportunity. Just ask the question.

• Finding odd numbers using pairs or partners: Use ice cube trays and ten frames to show even vs. odd numbers. Put one item in the first square of the first row and the second item in the first spot of the second row. This shows the number two in a pair. Since it has a pair, it is an even number. The number three would be shown by having two objects in the top row and one in the bottom row. You can also have the children circle pairs of two to see if they are odd or even. 
• Finding Odd Numbers using Equal Groups: Gather twenty natural items. Have the child grab a handful or scoop a quantity of the item. Have them count the items and determine if the number scooped is odd or even? 
• Odd or Even Walk: Take a walk in a neighborhood. Ask your child to look at all the house/ building numbers. What do they notice? Have them record the numbers on a piece of paper. They can even map a map. Do they notice anything different? House numbers are odd on one side and even on another. 
• Number Toss: Roll 2-3 yard dice and make a number. Is your number odd or even? 
• Number Chart: Create a number chart on a sheet. I like to use reverse number charts 100-1.

Compare Numbers   >, =, and < symbols. 

• Compare: Use objects to represent 2 numbers, such as 5 rocks and then 8. Use sticks to make the greater than, less than, and equal symbols between the two numbers. As the children develop, build larger numbers to compare. 
• Popsicle Stick Hunt: Hide popsicle sticks with numbers written on them. Stick them in the ground. Have the child find two numbers, or if working in partners, they each find one. Have them come back to the “meeting spot” and compare the numbers using <,>,=. Make the symbols using sticks. 
• Roll and compare!: You can use up to six-yard dice, depending on the age. Let's say the children are in second grade have each person rolls three dice, and then they make the largest number they can with the three numbers they rolled. The other player then does the same. Whoever’s number is the biggest wins one point. First-person to get ten points wins. 

Multiplication 

• Things that Come in Groups: Find natural objects that come in groups: leaves, flower petals, legs on animals, insects, spiders, apple seeds, maple helicopters, horse chestnut leaves. Use a notebook to keep track of all the examples you find. Create a multiplication sentence and sole. I have three flowers with six pedals. How many petals are there?  
• Multiply your Snacks: Take your snack outside. Choose snacks that have small pieces like raisins, grapes, or nuts. Have them create groups of 5 and see how many they have altogether. I have 5 groups with 5 raisins in each group. How many raisins do I have? 
• Arrays: Make arrays with egg cartons and/or muffin pans. Look for various egg cartons (6,12, 18, and the large open kind (Costco)). Place objects in the cartons or pans. This is a great time to point out how they are arrays and their relationship with multiplication! 

Fractions

• Food Activities: Five of My Favorite Foods To Use When Teaching Fractions With Food (youvegotthismath.com)
• Fraction Pies: Use pie tins to make mud pies. Use sticks to divide the pies into fractional parts such as halves and thirds etc.
• Snack Time: Cut fruit and vegetables into fractional parts for snack, soup or salad.
• Mud Fractions: Draw shapes like rectangles in the sand/ mud or use chalk and divide it into different fractional parts. 
• Fractions Parts: Have them place a variety of rocks, pinecone or stone, flowers, etc. Ask questions like that fraction of the objects are rocks? What about flowers? 

Geometry

• Sticks Shape: Create shapes with sticks using specific attributes. 
• Natural Geoboard: Make a natural geoboard and make shapes. 
• Shape Hunt: Find shapes in the natural environment!
• Mud Shapes: Use mud, clay, or play dough to make shapes or 3D shapes.

Measurement and Data: Length, Time 

• Measure Walk: logs, sticks, leaves, flowers, bricks, the circumference around a tree.  On a nature, walk see if you can find an example of something that is one inch, one foot, one centimeter, and one meter. Record the items in your notebook. 
• What's my Measure: measure several of the same objects to see how they vary—for example, the height of goldenrod plants or dandelions. Make a bar graph or line plot of the findings. 
• Grow a Garden: Grow a garden and plant beans or another plant and measure them weekly. Make a graph to show how they have grown.
• Garden Compare: the plants in your garden to find the tallest and the smallest. 
• Circumference: Have your students measure the circumference of a tree, post, or any other object.
• Graphing Nature: Try graphing colors of flowers, types of insects, pinecones gathered. Record and graph amounts of rainfall or birds were seen on a walk.
• Temperature: Graph the temperature for a week or month. 
• Planes and Trains: Fly ten paper airplanes. Measure the distance that they travel. You can also use trains or cars. Make a bar graph based on the data collected.
• Shrinking Puddles: Outline a puddle after it rains—Mark with chalk around it. Come back every hour and retrace. Keep a chart of the times you make observations and measure how much the puddle shrunk. 
• What Does it Weigh?: Find objects and guess which item will weigh more. Weigh to find the answer—record guesses and actual measurements on a data sheet. Use nonstandard units of weight like pennies, acorns, or small similar-sized rocks and standard weights. 

Time 

• Race: How long it takes to do a lap around a house, building, or playground with a timer*. Try running, walking, and skipping. Record your results on paper. Other ideas of things to time with a timer: How long does it take for a leaf to float the ground. Or a play car roll down a ramp, etc. You can even see how long it takes for a bug to crawl a specified distance? Record times on datasheet.
• Shadows: Mark where the shadow of a tree, several times throughout the day on a large piece of paper and label with times. Use an analog watch to write the times. Draw a clock in the snow or dirt and add stick hands and rock numbers. You can also do this using a rope or hula hoop as the circle. Practice making and reading at different times. Skip count around the outside to count the minutes in an hour. Label quarter-hour, a half-hour with cards. Show noon. 

Word Problems: Turn all activities into a word problem by creating a story.