There’s no way around it, kids need to practice math skills. Some more than others. If the sight of yet another worksheet is sending your child into tears, I am here to help. All you need is a worksheet and a little imagination. You provide the worksheet, I’ll provide the rest.
Create a Matching Activity
Write the answers to the questions of the worksheet in random places on another piece of paper.
Students use the answers and match them with the problems from the worksheet.
Not only will you be adding a little interest to a familiar activity but you will also be giving them a way to check their answers making the activity more independent. If a student gets 25 as an answer and there is no 25, they know they need to look again at the problem.
With a few more supplies there are several easy ways to create variety.
Use blank dot stickers with the answers filled in. Perfect for the anti-writer in the family. And for some reason kids love stickers.
If it isn’t a worksheet for school, you could also cut up the worksheet. I hid the answers in a jar of beads.
Now my 5 year old has an independent activity that she is excited about doing.
Does your child really need to get some wiggles out? Create an obstacle course in your backyard (or if you’re brave) in the living room. Put the questions on one side and the answers on the other. This works really well with stickers.
Create a Sorting Activity
Look at the answers to the worksheet. Group the answers into 2-4 piles. Make titles out of scrap paper or make a chart on lined paper.
By the way, the area and perimeter sort above is from my new free unit you can get by subscribing. Did I mention it was free?
Make a Maze
Write the problems to solve in a maze. You can find a lot of mazes at krazydad.com/puzzles.
While that would add interest. An idea that has worked a lot better for my son is to use the maze as a quest. We get out our risk pieces. He picks who the hero will be and puts the princess that needs saving at the end. I place the villains in the maze. I also assign how many hits each piece takes to be conquered.
Foot soldier: 2 problems
Rider; 4 problems
Troll: 6 problems
He loves this! Each time he solves a problem, he attacks the villain until he has solved all of the problems and conquered that one piece. And he happily continues on the journey to save the princess.
If ever he gets discouraged, I use the princess to cry for help, ‘Is there no brave knight to help me?’
And I say, “Oh, no. The troll is going to eat the princess! Are you going to let that happen? You have to save her!””
I will also point out how far his knight has come. “Look at all of the bad guys your knight has conquered. You’re almost done, you can do it!”
Now go grab a worksheet and see if those tears don’t just melt away!
By the way, my new Multi-level Unit doesn’t have any worksheets to worry about. Just hands-on exploration. And it’s free to download.
Do you have any other ideas to add? Comment below!