EASYROME

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.

Teresa Evans is a teacher and parent who uses math games to get kids excited about math. She shares her favorite math games including board games. card games and game sheets at MakingMathMoreFun.com. You can find more Easter fun and games at www.makingmathmorefun.com/easter.htm

Article Source: Easter Makes Math Fun