Math games for kids—Where Numbers Become a Game

Math games for kids? Are you crazy? You can't put the words math and games in the same sentence and be normal! Or can you? Good question Sally. Let's explore the idea of these two seemingly completely different words in the same sentence.

First of all the word 'math' is short for mathematics, which is from the ancient Greek language, (over 2,500 years old). Mathematics simply means learning or the study of quantity. Quantity means 'how much' or 'how many' or the 'amount of something.' Pretty simple stuff eh?

Now wait. Isn't math about numbers?
Good observation, Billy! Yes, math is about numbers. In fact, kids start learning about numbers and math when they are still pretty young. What? You don't see how that is possible?

Believe it or not, one of the first things kids learn in life is math. Babies begin to recognize when their feeding time is and when their little diapers will need to be changed and when it's time to go to sleep. ('When' can be a math word because it can have numbers for answers)? 'When' is similar to 'how many.' "When are you coming over to play?" The answer could be, "In two hours" or "On Saturday, three days from now," or any other answers that could contain numbers. These are math games for kids. 'How many toys do you have." The answer will be a number.

"How old are you?" That's a question that every kid gets asked, too many times. But the answer is always a number. You hold up your fingers and tell the adult how old you are and it always feels so good when you get the answer right. Holding up the right amount of fingers after thinking about it for just a moment feels like it could be one of the math games for kids. And after your next birthday you get to hold up one extra finger, which is addition, which is math. So, none of us are strangers to math, since we have lived with it on a daily basis all of our lives, no matter how old we are.

Some math games for kids can be played in the car and are actually quite a lot of fun. What is on every car on the road? That's right, license plates. What are on almost every license plate? Right again, numbers. Some kids like to see who can add up the most numbers on the license plates on the cars that are in front of them or on only blue or white cars. (You can pick any color, of course). Other kids look for odd or even numbers on the license plates. Still others multiply the last number by the first number and see who gets the highest total. There are so many math games for kids that only your imagination can limit the number of games you make up and play.

Don't forget to note how many miles per hour your car is traveling when you play. And also, what time it is, and how many people are in your car, and how many people are in the car in front of you and how many stop signs there are and how many silver colored cars there are and how many airplanes in the sky and how many out of state license plates and how many...you get the point. We just can't get away from it; math surrounds us wherever we go.

Math games for kids: Try These Easy Numbers