Summer Math Activities and {Learn & Play Link Up #8}

Welcome to another week of  Learn & Play Link Up!  I know that we are all enjoying summer, savouring the heat and everyone just wanted to play.  But because we are settled in a place where we barely have summer (because it rains all the time here in Ireland!), I made sure that we have activities  indoor to have that summer “feel”. 

For this week in The Pinay Homeschooler, I’m featuring our Summer Themed Grid Number Games.  Mavi and I had a great time playing this while it was gloomy for an entire week! Sure the weather spoilt our plan for outdoor play but our grid game kept us entertained!  To know more about it, click the image below or here.

Now I’m going to feature 4 awesome math post from our beloved readers!

• 25 Math Games for Kids from Study at Home Mama
• Ladybug Love Activities from A Kinder Gartens Vintage Homeschool
• Nautical Math Pack (activities) from Year Round Homeschooling
• DIY Math Peg Board from Child Led Life
• Fraction Activities w/ Printables from Every Star Is Different

Welcome to the Learn & Play Link Party!

Now it’s time for this week’s link party! This is a BRAND new link up for all blog posts that include learn and play activities and hands-on education for kids. We are excited to read your blog posts and to see what you have to share! Please link up below and grab our button to display on your blog.

If you are a blogger, share your family friendly posts here. We are looking for things which include:

• Montessori Education
• Homeschool
• Sensory Play
• Tot and Preschool Trays
• Fine and Gross Motor Activities
• Kids in the Kitchen
• Healthy Recipes for Kids
• Arts and Crafts
• Natural Living
• Free Educational Printables
• Family-Oriented Activities
• Healthy Living

Your post will be featured on each of our blogs where we will pick our favourite posts every other week. That means there is more of a chance that you will be featured!

Everyone, please meet our link party hosts:

Christian Montessori Blog ~ Please visit our CMN FB group ~ Pinterest

Vanessa from Mama’s Happy Hive~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Jennifer from Study at Home Mama~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Marie from Child Led Life~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Jae from Pinay Homeschooler~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Heather from Golden Reflections Blog~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Renae from Every Star is Different~FB~Pinterest

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FREE Summer Themed Grid Number Games

I love grid games! We used to play this a lot when Mavi was learning how to count. If you  haven't heard about it yet, the mechanics are pretty simple.

What you need:

• die/dice
• counters
• grid game board

How to play:

Roll the dice. Identify the number on the die.  Count  that amount of counters and place each one on the picture in the grid.  Continue playing until you fill out the grid.

Subtraction Game:

For a little challenge, I added a twist! Instead of the conventional one, we played a subtraction game. We used two dice.  To play, roll the dice and subtract the small number from the bigger number value in the dice. Say die[1] = 4 and die[2] = 6.  So 6 - 4 = 2.  Take 2 counters and place it on the grid.

If you have die[1] = 5 and die[2] = 5, you get 0.  Therefore you will not have any counter in the grid. Whoever fills the grid first wins!  So if you get lots of 0, you will mostly lose the game.

I love how Mavi easily memorizes the number combination and the answer!

Such a brilliant way to keep him engaged and learn mathematics at the same time! And this can be played by multiple players as well how cool is that?!

Try it now! I've got 8 different grid games for 2 sizes (6x5 for older kids).

Download 5 x 4 Summer Themed Grid Games 

Download 6 x 5 Summer Themed Grid Games 

Summer Themed (6 x 5) Grid games

Download your FREE copy now!

For the mechanics, click here.

Enjoy!

Summer Themed (5 x 4) Grid Number Games

Download your copy now!

For the mechanics, click here.

Enjoy!

Measuring Mass of an Object

Mavi and I started some activities for Applied Science. Here, math and science works together to solve problems. Applied Science enables the child to do critical thinking.

Experimenting and predicting Mass (Weight)

I chose this lesson because I’ve always wanted to use our bucket balance which I got from Learning Resources. I had this since last year but Mavi has been using it for play and have not used it as an educational toy yet.

Materials needed:

• Balance scale or bucket balance from Learning Resources
• Items to weigh ( we have rugby ball, a small book and box of Jenga toys)
• Items to serve as measuring unit. I used transportation and fruit counters from Learning Resources (make sure they’re all similar) and crystal pebbles.

Objective:

• To develop skills in predicting and estimating the mass of the an object.
• To use knowledge in science and math to come up with a mathematical conclusion based on the experiment.

Mavi will predict the weight of the materials without putting them in the scale. The prediction of how heavy an object is will be based on the unit material we are using. For example, how many unit trains does the rugby ball weigh? Then we will determine if his predictions are correct by testing it in the balance against the number of units he predicted.

As you can see we keep a notebook here to record his data. There should be three columns with labels: [object] [prediction] [actual]

Once he has tested all the materials, we will then come up with a conclusion if his predictions are correct or not. Then compare each object, from the lightest to heaviest using the number of units each has.

Results:

Objects	Prediction	Actual
Rugby ball	17 pebbles	35 pebbles
Book	20 pebbles	33 pebbles
Box	10 pebbles	11 pebbles

We concluded that the heaviest item was the rugby ball and the lightest was the Jenga box.

This was an exciting activity for Mavi.  After our lesson he continued playing with the balance in his room, with his brother.  He’s trying to test how will two different objects balance.  Of course, he has a little helper.

 

Like the post? Pin this for future reference!

Collection of Hands-on Preschool Math

Over the years, we’ve done a lot of preschool math, may it be Montessori, Montessori-inspired or just any spontaneous activity I could think of.  And just like most of you, this is one of the subject that young Mavi was not giddy about.  This can be overwhelming to little children, thus finding it hard to enjoy math activities.  But through the philosophies of Maria Montessori (which I implemented at home), and with the inspiration that I get from homeschooling Mommies, we were able to surpass that stage with flying colours.

So I compiled the math activities that Mavi loved and enjoyed. These activities are suitable for children from 3 years old and above.  We use  A lot of manipulatives, both purchased and homemade. They were all worth-it, for the time I’ve spent creating materials and the amount of money I invested. 

Learning How to Measure.

Learning how to Tell Time

Learning about Money (Euro Coins)

Learning how to Count 0  to 9

Popsicle Stick Shapes
Cards and Counters using Cut-out Leaves (Fall activity)

Tally Fingers and Cards
Cards and Counters with Number Ordering

Basic Addition for Preschoolers

Grid Games and Do a Dot Markers

Dinosaur Grid Game

Skip Counting and Patterning

Counting by Tens

Toddler Counting Activities

Antarctic Themed Math

Learning about Sets

Introduction to Ordinal Numbers

Counting to 100 Using DIY Hundred Board

More math activities in Pinterest board
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Tried and Tested: Fraction Pies

Obviously, I love math materials.  Through the years, I’ve been collecting a few, just to give my boys’ learning a boost because hands-on math is totally rocks!  Now, I don’t usually give reviews because I have high standards LOL.  I’m frugal that’s why every cent I spend means a lot to me.  The cost must justify the quality of products. 

Anyway, I have two sets of fractions pies.  The first one is  the soft foam fraction pies from Singapore’s Learning Store which my cousin gave to me a few years ago.  I totally LOVE this.  The pies are huge, it’s the size of my hand, magnetic, sturdy, has a label, with bright colours and it comes with tub (with handle!).

Now, this year, I ordered another set from Learning Resources via Amazon.  I love Learning Resources! Most of my materials are from them, so I was expecting this fraction pies to be of equal  with the ones I got from Singapore.  BUT, I was tremendously disappointed.  When I opened it, I wanted to throw it right away into the bin LOL.  They are tiny plastic tiles and comes with a case that is sooo hard to open.  When I checked the pies, they  don’t have labels either so it is very difficult to identify each of them (unless you are so good in visual that you know that it’s 1/10 right away!).  Because the are so tiny, slippery and sharp on the edges, I couldn’t fit them back in the tiny case.  So I just packed them immediately, covered in newspaper (so no one will get hurt due to sharp edges) and kept them in the storage.  I wonder when will it see the light of day.

See the size difference? And just look at the containers.  I swear, the ones from Singapore are much more cheaper!

And here’s the side.  The pieces are so thin! So hard to put back together 

I couldn’t find the EXACT product our foam pies in Amazon but here are the ones I saw closest to it:

• Foam Fraction Pies Teacher Created Resources.  A little bit small, but they are made of foam and affordable.
• Educational Insights Foam Magnetic Circles.  The pies are big, according to Amazon, “Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 10.3 x 2.4 inches ; 2.5 pounds”
• Lakeshore Learning Giant Magnetic Fraction Circles and Bars.  The circle is “5 3/4"

And that’s about it!  Watch out for my fraction activity… will try to create learning materials and share it with you. 

Have a good day everyone

FREE Multiplication Booklets

We are currently using these multiplication booklets with our Montessori Multiplication Bead Board.  There are three booklets:

FREE Subtraction Booklets

I created these booklets a long long time ago when Mavi was just around 4 years old and when he was beginning to learn basic arithmetic.  Unfortunately, I changed laptops so I was not able to share these and thought that I lost my files! Good thing Husband recovered it for me so I’m able to share this with you.

The Montessori Multiplication Board

Spring break has given us enough time to work on our multiplication.  The next thing we did after introducing multiplication using counters was doing the arithmetic using multiplication bead board. 

To know more about these materials and how to use it, here are some resources I collected for you:

• How to use the multiplication bead board (video)
• Multiplication Bead Board Presentation
• Multiplication Bead Board Worksheets
• DIY Multiplication Bead Board

I made multiplication strips for Mavi to work on.  This is similar to the one mentioned in my resources except that I edited the fonts to fit my paper size.

I followed the presentation based on the Info Montessori and demonstrated it on Mavi.  When it’s his time to do the work,  Mavi chose the table of 6 (his age!).  He loved putting the beads in the hole, though at times, it slips through his fingers as they seem to be tiny.  How I wish the beads were a bit bigger!  As he worked on the table, I told him to mark the last count of the beads so he wouldn’t need to count from 1 again. Say, he’s currently at 6 x 4 = 24. So that’s 24 beads already. Moving to 6 x 5, he doesn’t have to count all over again from the first bead.  All he has to do is add 6 to the last count or mark, that is 24.  Bless his heart, he was counting from 1 everytime he moves on to the next multiplier LOL. 

                      

Again, I pointed out that multiplication is adding similar numbers.  So adding a multiplicand to the last count is a much faster way of doing it.

Now, for the work strips, I printed them out and glue them on a yellow cardstock.  Mavi loved how beautiful they turned out.  As an extension, I also showed Mavi how the table of 6 works when laid out using the decanomial beads.   The laying out of beads was a hit! Mavi was hooked.  Too bad though, we didn’t get to finish the work because Vito was already awake and wants attention.  (PS. We don’t do bead works whenever Vito’s around. He still mouths objects)   

Making Montessori Ours has this amazing printable Multiplication Materials Package made out for you. I suggest you check her out as well!

Don’t forget to pin this for later! You don’t want to miss this!

And that’s about it! How wonderful this method of learning is! So hands-on and visual!  We will work on the rest of the multiplication table both in bead board and decanomial beads one at a time. Anyway, this is just to expose Mavi to multiplication.  Once we’re done with all the tables, we’ll start division and it’s going to be even more exciting!

Want to see what other’s are doing?  Check out my Pinterest board for other Math ideas!

The Glorious Flight {FIAR}

"This book...recounts the persistence of a Frenchman, Louis Bleriot, to build a flying machine to cross the English Channel.... The text is succinct, caption-like in its directness and brevity....The paintings...add the necessary testure and tone to this marriage. This is vintage Provensen" –School Library Journal

We love this book!  I mean it. It’s funny yet full of lessons from history.  It teaches the reader of never giving up, of persistence and following dreams. And did you know that this book is based on a true story of Louis Bleriot, the first person to fly an airplane in the English Channel.
This is one book that I highly recommend reading when studying airplanes! And you get to study history as well :)
Geography

Now the setting of the story is in France. So we spot France in our Montessori Europe Puzzle Map and identify the English Channel where Louis Bleriot flew.

in addition, we check out landforms as well, as Mavi was asking me “Mommy, what is a channel?”

Since it is in France, Mavi made the flag of France. I was surprise he still remembers the colours.

And of course, the exciting part was creating the English Channel using our coloured rice, Europe Pin Flags and Learning Resources Transportation counters.
Math

The book was using Roman Numerals so we made Roman Numerals for each Montessori Number Cards.  This was a huge hit! I even learned from this… the Roman Numerals of thousands!

Science
We studied Airplanes!  Here are the books we used: 

They were all helpful!  The only thing that we didn’t do was to have an experiment on flying. Oh well, maybe next time.
Interested in learning the different parts of an airplane? I have FREE 3-part cards for you!

Mavi loves to read and match the parts.  I have yet to create definition booklet for this.  But Mavi knew all the functions of each parts by heart so he was discussing it to me while doing the work.

History
We created a timeline for the airplane. Starting from the discovery of the Wright brothers up to the very present of airliners (this was Mavi’s idea).
                  
And that’s about it!  We have a fruitful week for this! I didn’t know that rowing FIAR books could be this exciting and fun!
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