• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Member Login

The Measured Mom

Education resources for parents and teachers

  • Alphabet
  • Reading
    • Structured literacy
    • Printable Books
    • Pre-Reading
    • Phonics
    • Sight Words
    • Comprehension
    • Fluency
    • Vocabulary
  • Writing
    • Grammar
    • Handwriting
    • Spelling
    • Writing in Pre-K
    • Writing in K-3
  • Math
    • Counting
    • Number Recognition
    • Addition & Subtraction
    • Colors, Shapes & Patterns
    • Visual Discrimination
    • Time, Money & Measurement
    • Place Value
    • Graphs
    • Multiplication & Division
    • Fractions
    • Problem Solving
  • Book Lists
    • Letter of the Week
    • Early Childhood Themes
    • Pre-Reading Skills
    • Math Concepts
    • Writing Mentor Texts
    • Versions of Familiar Tales
    • Holidays and Seasonal
    • History
    • Leveled Book Lists
  • Join Membership
Home
  • Shop
  • Blog
    • Alphabet
    • Reading
    • Writing
    • Math
    • Book Lists
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Membership
  • Contact

PSPKK12311 Comments

How to make math fun for kids ages 8-12

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Is math a dreaded subject at your house?  Here’s how to make math fun!

Make math fun with these math activities for third grade and up!

 (This post contains affiliate links.)

So.

Math homework.

How do those two words make you feel?  More important, how do they make your child feel?

For many children, their feelings about math change right around fifth grade.  It’s either overwhelmingly hard, or frustratingly boring.  What’s a parent to do?

First, banish “I’m not good at math” from your family’s vocabulary.  Your child doesn’t say it.  And you don’t say it, even if you feel it’s true.

Expect that homework will be done, and keep your comments positive. If homework time is becoming tense, seek advice from your child’s teacher.

Above all, have fun with math apart from homework!

Your job is to grab teachable moments as they happen, listen to your child’s questions, ask some of your own, and and learn right along with him.

Think of yourself as your child’s math cheerleader.

How to make math fun for kids ages 8-12

1. Play math games.

You already know about the old stand-bys like Checkers and Battleship. But have you heard of Colorku and Yamslam?   Browse What Do We Do All Day’s list of math gifts for kids in elementary school.  (Better yet, follow her blog!  She often shares new games her family has discovered.)

2. Take a field trip.

Do you have a math or science museum nearby?  Without guidance, your child might hop from one station to another and get very little out of the experience.  Be sure to slow down and explore exhibits together.

Do some research and find out if any local factories give tours.  Talk to the tour guide about how math is used to design and manufacture the product.

3. Try not to drill your child on math content.  

Let’s face it.  Mindless repetition is boring.

Yeah, I know.  Your child has those math cards to learn.  Even flash cards don’t have to be painful!  I recently shared over 25 fun ways to learn math facts.  Go check it out!

4. Help your children see the purpose of math.

Make math fun with these math activities for third grade and up!

 

Let them see you calculate gas mileage, determine the best buy at the grocery store, and balance the family budget.  When your kids see your interest in math (and enjoyment of it, hint, hint), they’ll see its value.

5. Teach your child to manage money.

Give your child a ledger to record income and expenses, and help him learn to manage his birthday money or allowance.  If he wants to borrow from you, help him calculate the interest.

6. Take your child’s interests into account.

Math is related to nearly every interest.  Here are just a few!

Is your child a baseball fan?  Record statistics. Calculate batting averages.

Is your child into fashion?  Visit a fabric store and calculate the cost of materials to create a dream design.

If your child is into computers, find a beginner’s coding class.

Building is your child’s thing?  Design and build a complex structure.

7. Ask thoughtful math questions.

Are you waiting in the doctor’s office?  Waiting for your meal to arrive?  Sitting on the sidelines waiting for a sibling’s game to start?  Resist the temptation to check your phone or get out the iPad for some easy entertainment.  It’s the perfect time to talk about math!

“Do you think 1/2 or 3/4 of a pizza is bigger?”  Draw a picture on a napkin.

“Look at that score.  Our team has 14 points. What does the one mean in 14?”

“About how many people are in this packed auditorium?”

“If we’ve used half a tank of gas, when should we refuel?”

“This package of 12 oz is $2.49. This package of 16 oz is $2.70.  Which one is a better deal?”

Make math fun with these math activities for third grade and up!

“This coupon gives us 15% off our total bill.  How much will we save if our bill is $75?”

For a huge variety of math questions for all ages, check out the classic book Family Math.

8. Celebrate the birthdays of famous mathematicians and talk about their accomplishments.

Okay, I may have lost you on this one.  Wake up, now, and hear me out.  There really are some fascinating stories out there!  Like Susie Johnson McAfee, a brilliant daughter of former slaves who couldn’t become a teacher because the examiner “lost” her spelling paper and charged her father a huge sum to find it.  Instead of becoming a teacher, McAfee taught her own eight children, five of whom received degrees in mathematics.    Check out the book Mathematicians Are People Too (and its sequel, volume 2).

9. Model persistence and enjoyment of math.

When my computer is giving me trouble, I tend to shut down.  I’m frustrated, troubled, and quite sure it’s the end of the world! On the other hand, my husband calmly sits down and tries many different things until he solves the problem.  I think he actually enjoys the challenge.

That’s the way all of us should be about math.  It’s just a problem to be solved. There is an answer.  Patience (and sometimes outside help!) will get you there.  “Fun” and “easy” are not necessarily the same thing.  Remember that the challenge of math is what makes it fun!

 10. Read some incredible math picture books.

What Do We Do All Day has been sharing a fabulous book list with each of my math appreciation posts.  Check out this week’s!

Make math fun with these math activities for third grade and up!

  • Learn how to make math fun at all different age levels! Just click on an age range below.

    0-2

    3-4

    5-7

    8-12

 

*Images via Depositphotos (c) Paulpaladin & (c) whitestar955

Free Math Printables for Pre-K-3rd Grade

Join our email list and get this sample pack of time-saving resources from our membership site! You'll get printables for counting, addition and subtraction, measuring, problem solving, and more!

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Math Tagged With: third grade

You May Also Enjoy These Posts:

25+ fun ways to learn math facts 40+ free printable Christmas games for kids Write the room: Telling time
25+ fun ways to learn math facts
Letter find worksheets

Reader Interactions

11 Comments

  1. Jill

    March 18, 2015 at 4:37 pm

    Some great ideas here. We play lots of games too – like yahtzee to practice maths, and I find the kids enjoy ‘real’ maths – like adding up our shopping total as we work our way through the supermarket! I even took their friends one time and they said they never knew grocery shopping could be so much fun!!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      March 19, 2015 at 7:57 pm

      That’s so awesome that your kids’ friends had fun shopping in the grocery store with you! I love the idea of tallying up the total as you shop. My kids aren’t quite ready for that yet, but my kindergartner really loves his calculator… so maybe! 🙂

      Reply to this comment
  2. amy

    March 11, 2015 at 4:07 pm

    thank you! I love how you can give tips to parents on how to help ourselves help our children. Sometimes I feel like these things are so obvious, but nice to read it and reconnect with it and go “oh yeah!” 🙂 love your blog!!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      March 19, 2015 at 7:55 pm

      Thank you, Amy! These posts are written to remind myself of these things as much as it is for my readers. 🙂 It always helps to think things through again and write them down!

      Reply to this comment
  3. Curt

    March 10, 2015 at 9:29 pm

    Great article! And good timing with this Saturday being a historic pi day!

    Reply to this comment
  4. Julie

    March 5, 2015 at 10:08 am

    So many fun ideas here – thank you so much!!!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      March 6, 2015 at 5:31 am

      Thanks for reading, Julie!

      Reply to this comment
      • Tiana Hughes

        January 21, 2021 at 8:04 am

        Thank you so much

        Reply to this comment

Trackbacks

  1. 11 Effective Ways To Teach Your Child Math [Updated 2021] | MentalMathWorksheets says:
    November 11, 2020 at 12:52 am

    […] about how to teach math effectively, a sure way to make your child more interested in math is to make math fun and enjoyable, and what better way to do so than involve games. Children love games and there are […]

    Reply to this comment
  2. How to Motivate Students to Love Studies - My Kids are Fun says:
    April 30, 2019 at 4:10 pm

    […] techniques for helping your child pick up interest in specific subjects like social studies or mathematics. At that point challenge them to recognize their five most loved dinosaurs and clarify why he […]

    Reply to this comment
  3. How to Make Learning Math Fun – Math/Computer Science says:
    February 8, 2018 at 9:45 pm

    […] https://www.themeasuredmom.com/how-to-make-math-fun-for-kids-ages-8-12/ […]

    Reply to this comment

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Grade Level Key

  • PS Preschool (ages 2-3 years)
  • PK Pre-K (ages 4-5 years)
  • K Kindergarten
  • 1 1st grade
  • 2 2nd grade
  • 3 3rd grade

Hello, I’m Anna!

Welcome to The Measured Mom. I’m so glad you’re here!

Meet Our Team

Free Math Printables for Pre-K-3rd Grade

Join our email list and get this sample pack of time-saving resources from our membership site! You'll get printables for counting, addition and subtraction, measuring, problem solving, and more!

Shop our store!

120 Print and Play Math & Literacy Games for K-2

$15.00

Preschool Math Curriculum for Home

$24.00

Place Value Task Cards for 2nd Grade

$8.00

Shop all resources

Members get more!

The Measured Mom Plus is the perfect online membership for Pre-K to third grade educators.

Learn More

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.

Join our online courses and get the tools you need to teach every learner in K-2!

Confidently teach every reader in your classroom. Still have time to live your life.

Learn More

Get everything you need to teach writing well, including over 200 ready-to-use lessons.

Learn More

Listen and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher

Check out these recent podcast episodes:

  • My response to Jan Richardson & Michele Dufresne, Part 1
  • 6 Things to remember about the science of reading
  • What order should we teach the letters of the alphabet?
More Episodes

Check out these FREE email courses...

Get strategies and tools to teach a particular topic with a free 5-day email series! Just click an image to sign up. We recommend signing up for just one at a time.

For Pre-K Educators

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

Learn my must-follow tips for teaching the alphabet in this free 5-day email series!

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

Learn how to develop this important pre-reading skill with a free 5-day email series!

How to teach preschool math

How to teach preschool math

Learn exactly what to teach your preschoolers in this free 5-day series!

For Kinder & 1st Grade Educators

How to teach kids to sound out words

How to teach kids to sound out words

Learn my top strategies for teaching kids to "sound it out"

How to teach sight words

How to teach sight words

Get strategies and tools for teaching sight words to young learners!

Tips for teaching phonics

Tips for teaching phonics

Sign up for our free 5-day email series to learn what phonics skills to teach and how to structure your phonics lessons!

For 2nd & 3rd Grade Educators

How to build reading fluency

How to build reading fluency

Learn smart strategies for helping your learners become fluent readers with this free 5-day series!

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

Learn the most important writing skills to teach to 2nd & 3rd graders in this free 5-day series!

How to build reading comprehension

How to build reading comprehension

Discover the essential reading comprehension strategies for 2nd & 3rd grade and how to teach them!

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” –Matthew 6:33

Copyright © 2023 The Measured Mom •  All rights reserved  •  Privacy & Disclosure Statement  •  Site Design by Emily White Designs