Easter Makes Math Fun
When Easter comes
kids get excited, very excited. So why
not use that excitement to motivate kids
in math? Easter math games are even more
fun than regular math games and Easter
Brain Teasers will be even more
interesting that regular Brain Teasers.
Easter brings loads of opportunities to
get kids interested in math. Listed
below are a few suggestions for using
Easter as a stimulus for some math fun.
Egg Match
The slightly different version of the
traditional Easter egg hunt can be used
to practice many different math skills.
Start by cutting egg shapes out of card.
Decide what skill you would like
children to practice, e.g. basic
addition or multiplication. Write a fact
on the top half of each egg and the
answer on the bottom half of the egg.
Then cut the eggs in half. Hide the
pieces and let children hunt for the egg
halves. When children have found the
pieces, each child tries to match up as
many eggs as possible by matching the
top to the correct answer on the bottom.
The winner is the one with the most
complete eggs.
Bunny Hop
Begin by nominating a start line and a
finish line. Two children compete to
jump from the start to the finish but
they can only make two jumps when they
are first to answer a math question. Use
questions that you want the children to
practice, e.g. 6 times 8, half of 34,
What is the number before 87? The first
child to answer take two jumps towards
the finish line.
Easter Counting
The old favorite counting game Buzz can
become an Easter counting game by
replacing the word 'Buzz' with an Easter
word. Use 'Bunny' or 'Easter Egg'
instead. Children count around a circle
but replace the number 7, every multiple
of 7 and every number containing a digit
7 with the word 'Bunny'. If a child says
the number instead of saying 'Bunny'
they are out. This is a challenging game
and it requires concentration and
knowledge of multiples. Trying playing
it with other digits instead of 7, e.g.
5 or 10 for an easier version or 8 or 9
for a more difficult version.
Easter Brain Teasers
Number problems can also be made much
more interesting by using Easter as
subject for the problem. Here are a few
that you can use to start teasing young
brains.
The Easter Bunny starts with 15 Easter
Eggs in a Basket. He gives our 4 then
collects 6 more then gives 4 children 2
eggs each. How many eggs in the basket
now?
Tom has been dyeing eggs. He is using
red and yellow dye. He has dyed 17 eggs
and has 5 more yellow eggs than red
eggs. How many does he have of each?
How many eggs did I find in the Egg
Hunt? I found between 10 and 30. The
number is divisible by 3 but not by 4 or
5. I found an even number of eggs.
Change the numbers in these problems and
you can have a new set of Brain Teaser
ready in a flash. There are many
different ways to use Easter to make
math more exciting. You'll find that
children will definitely agree that
Easter math is much more interesting
than regular math.
