Beat the Summer Heat with Cool Math for Kids

A University of Missouri study discovered that children on average lose about 2.6 months of math knowledge over summer break. Think about where your children were at math around St. Patrick’s Day—that will be about the same place they’ll be on Labor Day. Kids are often encouraged to read over the summer, but rarely do they get the same suggestion for math. But cool math for kids doesn’t need to feel like they are back in school, sitting at their desks. You can introduce math into summer activities that are fun for child and parent alike. Here are several ways to beat the summer heat with cool math for kids:

Sidewalk Chalk

Your child may resist worksheets over the summer, but the same problems written on a sidewalk in chalk are far more fun to answer. The possibilities are endless: Any math activity you can write on paper you can also write on a sidewalk or driveway. Your kids could draw outlines of each other and measure how tall they are. Grid out a game of dots or play tic-tac-toe.

Lemonade Stand

The time-honored tradition of the lemonade stand is a perfect opportunity for cool math for kids. Challenge your children to think as businesspeople when running the stand. How much water, ice, and sugar will they need? How much will each cup cost them, and how much will they gross from each cup sold? How much will they need to sell to break even?

Water Balloon Equations

Use a Sharpie to write math equations on a few dozen unfilled water balloons. Fill up the balloons; the equations should now be more visible. If a child answers the question right, he or she gets to throw the water balloon—maybe at a target, another kid, or even you. A wrong answer means another kid can answer correctly for the right to throw the balloon. If nobody answers correctly, it’s yours to pop over your kids’ heads (just don’t make the problems too tough!).

More Water Math

On hot days, water is a great way to provide cool math for kids. Among the possibilities: