To place it in a nice way, my son is rather squirmy. He doesn't prefer to sit still for very long unless he's playing a relevant video game, then it's just amazing. So instead of constantly telling him to take a seat and do his math, we go outside or in the stairs, literally. I'd like to share a number of ways we love to to "do math" when sitting still is simply too much. Try these games with your child and I think you'll agree that math and exercise can go hand in hand.

Stair Math
Math flash cards are often pretty boring. What you can do for your active child is put a card on each step going up your stairs and then across the hall and into another room. Place these every foot or two. Some kids like to be timed, consider getting out your stopwatch and yell "go!" My son will race up the stairs as quickly as he can while shouting the answers. He causes it to be to his room and jumps on his bed in triumph. This can be done game many times.

Flash Card Toss
This math game works particularly well at our home because there's an open area towards the top of the steps that looks down on the family room. Actually, any place in your home and out is going to do, and it's ideal for a child who has lots of suppressed energy! Take a flash card and fling it as being far as possible. Have your child run after it, get it, solve it, and race back. This can be done until either the kid has no steam or you injure your throwing arm.

maths games ks1

Shoot 10 Baskets
There are many variations for this game and you will adjust it to suit your child. You are able to have fun with an actual basketball hoop or wadded up bits of paper shooting in the trash.

1. Have your child shoot 10 baskets and keep tabs on the number of they make. Do this in series of 10s, as many times as you would like. Next, show the scores to your child and have them figure out his average per 10 baskets he/she has made.

2. Farmville requires quick thinking. Ask your son or daughter to shoot 10 baskets and then ask him/her to tell the ratio of missed baskets to baskets shot, or the ratio of made baskets to missed baskets. You can do this with a variety of shooting attempts and have them answer quickly before they shoot again.

3. A different way to play is to ask them to shoot 10 baskets and figure out the fraction of made shots to total shots. Next, have them reduce their fraction, after which turn their fraction right into a percentage. They ought to do that within their head, or maybe they need to write it down, you can supply sidewalk chalk or pencil and paper for some quick figuring.

maths games ks1

Interactive Story Problems
Just a little imagination from you, along with a stopwatch, makes this one fun! You make up the story problem and your children act it out. Here are some examples:

If [your child's name] runs from the mailbox to the back fence in [however long it requires him in seconds], and [another child's name] runs the same path in [however long it requires her in seconds], the number of minutes were spent running this route by both of them altogether?

If [name] threw the ball [measure in inches] and [Mom] threw the ball 9 inches less than that, what lengths did your amazing Mom throw?

You are going to time your son or daughter skipping, running, hopping, running backwards, race walking, and running on all fours. However, allow him to or her rank the order by which they think they will do these, from fastest to slowest and estimate their times. Then time them and compare with their estimate.

After that, you may make up all sorts of story problems:

How much faster have you skip than hop?

How many minutes total made it happen take you to do all of them?

Which is faster - running and running backwards vs. race walking and hopping?

These games are only a start in practicing math with your active child. I'm certain you can imagine quite a few more once you begin. Something is perfect for sure, after playing these math games, they're ready to sit down and do some passive reading!