Ultimate Guide to Living Math Activities
I’ve been touting the benefits of living math for quite some time now. Why? Because living math makes sense to kids. It builds concrete understanding of abstract concepts. It touches real-life, giving math meaning and purpose. And, it’s fun!
This post contains affiliate links.
To make your life (and mine) easier, I decided to pull together a giant list of fabulous living math activities from all over the internet. Grab one anytime you need a little inspiration! I’ve attempted to compile the activities into appropriate grade levels. You will find, however, that several of the lessons can be used with older or younger children. (That’s another beauty of living math – it’s ability to span multiple ages!)
How can you use the activity lists? You might decide to do a living math activity once a week and come here to find an idea. You might find a topic your child has been studying in the math text and use one of these activities as reinforcement. Or, you might find your child struggling with a math concept and find a helpful hands-on lesson to teach the concept in a different way.
Living Math Activities
K-3 Living Math Activities
Addition Bingo from Teach Beside Me
Apple Measurement from Something 2 Offer
Area & Perimeter Name Art from Adventures in Third Grade
Bead Classification from Our Journey Westward
Charts and Graphs from Jimmie Lanley
Chex Mix Math from E is for Explore
Dice Tic-Tac-Toe from Education
The Doorbell Rang Division from Our Journey Westward
Doubles Math Puzzles from Teach Beside Me
Exchanging Coins from Hands On Homeschooler
Exploring Capacity with Colored Water from The Imagination Tree
Folk Art Patterns from Painted Paper
Fraction Fun with Play Dough from The Organized Classroom
Fraction Match Up from 2nd the Best
Frogs and Snakes Dice Game from Something 2 Offer
Fun with Functions from Math in Your Feet
Fun with Patterns from Our Journey Westward
Geo Pumpkin from Fun A Day
Geometry Project from Ms. Mathemagician
Gingerbread Man Math Facts from Something 2 Offer
Gumdrop Engineering from Modern Parents Messy Kids
Graph My Room by Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational
Greater Than Less Than Game from Living Creatively
Hand Print Area from Lesson Plan Diva
Hands-On Multiplication with Lego Bricks Frugal Fun for Boys
How Many Lego Bricks Does It Weigh? from Frugal Fun for Boys
Introducing Place Value from Adventures at the Kitchen Table
Lego Bar Charts from Science Sparks
Math Poetry from Jimmie Lanley
Measure the House from Let’s Explore
Nerf Gun Math from No Time for Flashcards
Number Line Fun from Childhood Beckons
Picture Pie for Fraction Fun by Ms. Fultz’s Corner
Place the Digits Dice Game from Teach Beside Me
Place Value Stomp from Creekside Learning
Popcorn Estimation Experiment from Hodgepodge
Positive Negative Symmetry Art from Our Journey Westward
Post-It Note Scavenger Hunt from Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational
Pretzel Polygons from Mrs. Wheeler’s First Grade
Pumpkin Weighing from Something 2 Offer
Roll A Whole Fraction Game from Teach Beside Me
Shape Graphing from Imprints from Tricia
Shape, Mondrian and Oil Pastels from Art Smart
Sir Cumference Place Value from The Tiger Chronicles
Sneaky Math Games from The Unlikely Homeschool
Standard Measurement with Play Dough from Our Journey Westward
UNO Make 10 Game from The Activity Mom
Yummy Shapes from Our Journey Westward
4-8 Living Math Activities
Absolute Value War from Making It as a Middle School Teacher
Abstract Art Math for Our Journey Westward
Area and Perimeter of Leaves from Our Journey Westward
Bar Graphing from The Science Penguin
Candy Bar Volume from Classroom Magic
Candy Math from Our Journey Westward
Capture Recature: Proportions Activity from Ms. Milleson’s 7th Grade Blog
Coin Probability Lab from STEM Mom
Design a Park from Principal’s Point of View
Fraction Operations Project from Teaching with a Mountain View
Fractional Me from The Teaching Thief
Geometric Designs from Art Lessons for Kids
Geometry Focus: Angles from Teaching with a Mountain View
Graphing Facebook Birthdays from Our Journey Westward
Hands-On Fractions from Jimmie Lanley
Hands-On Volume from Our Journey Westward
M&M Math from Our Journey Westward
Measuring and Comparing Stretch and Distance from E is for Explore
Measuring the Volume of Boxes and Spheres from The Homeschool Scientist
Measuring the Volume of a Solid from Susan Evans
Multiplication Facts Dice Game from Mama’s Learning Corner
Multiplication Grid Game from Teach Beside Me
Multiplication Ring Toss from Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational
One Grain of Rice from Our Journey Westward
Oreo Math from Teaching in Room 6
Paper Airplane Math from Our Journey Westward
Perimeter, Area and Fraction Mosaics from I Want to be a Super Teacher
Perimeter, Area and Volume from Math Things
Picture Algebra from Mrs. Whites 6th Grade Math Blog
Polygon Angles: Cookie Math from Almost Unschoolers
Popcorn Math from Our Journey Westward
The Power of Doubling from Our Journey Westward
Probability and Odds: Skittles Activity from Ms. Milleson’s 7th Grade Blog
Protractor Art from For the Love of Art
Sir Cumference Geometry from Almost Unschoolers
Symmetry Books from Nyla’s Crafty Teaching
Teaching Pi with Lids from Our Journey Westward
Tessellations from Julianna Kunstler
To-Scale Mapping from Our Journey Westward
High School Living Math Activities
Box Office Math Project from Byrdseed
Brand Symmetry from Teach Mathematics
Escher Symmetry from Teach Mathematics
Exponent Sort from Mark Clark
Factor Pair Spoons Game from Jon Oaks
Function Game from College Math
Geometry Vocabulary Match Game from High School Math Adventures
House Remodel from Everybody’s a Genius
Math You Need to Manage Your Money from Unschool Rules
Pythagorean Theorem Board Game from High School Math Adventure
Quadrilateral Properties from Teach Mathematics
Real-World High School Math from Unschool Rules
Similar Triangles from Teach Mathematics
Sine Rule Using a Theodolite from Teach Mathematics
Slopes and Ladders from Jon Oaks
What the Factor? from Jon Oaks
Seasonal Math Activities
Autumn Leaf Graphing from Our Journey Westward
Candy Heart Math from Our Journey Westward
Double Mint from Our Journey Westward
Football Math from The Happy Housewife
Lucky Charms Data from Teaching Heart
Olympic Medal Math from Byrdseed
Pumpkin Math from Our Journey Westward
There are three GREAT websites I can always count on for living math activity ideas that make math meaningful and fun.
- Mathwire is for elementary students and offers lots of seasonal related ideas.
- Yummy Math is for middle school (and sometimes upper elementary or high school) students. You’ll also find several seasonal ideas, but what I like most here is there use of real-life math problems. They usually provide a printable, too!
- Robert Kaplinsky has really great real-life math prompts for all ages – including high school level algebra and geometry.
You can find all these living math activities and MORE on my Living Math Pinterest page. I add new lessons there all the time!
ENJOY your math lessons!
Incorporate Living Math in Your Homeschool
Want even more fantastic ideas for Living Math? Join me in the Living Math Masterclass to learn more about the methods I love, and you will too!
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Math in Nature$14.00
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Loving Living Math$12.00
Thanks so much for sharing some of my links!!
love living math. love manipulatives. love games. but my child loves the computer. do you teach coding? have any suggestions for online games late elementary? currently we are trying out MathBreakers (Jo Boaler suggested); Tynker; Hopscotch;
A blogging friend of mine has a son who does coding. Here are her suggestions…http://www.greatpeaceacademy.com/coding-resources/. ๐
This is an amazing resource! I’ve read your book – Loving Living Math – well, I should say I’ve dog-eared, underlined and re-read it often- and love how Living Math has changed our homeschool! Now this list – Wow! I am so grateful!
Shelly, I’m always SO encouraged when I read comments like yours. Thank you!
Best math connected activity is playing chess. I know that it’s not obvious, because where do you have numbers and equations here. But math is not only about this, you need certain skills to understand complicated word of numbers. Unique thing about chess is that it develops both sides of the brain. Researchers analyzed this back in 2010 and found that more advanced players use the right side of their brain to recognize patterns in the game and their left side to analyze and make the most logical move. Regardless of the childโs age, chess develops concentration, increases patience and positively affects the intellectual and emotional development of the child. The rules of chess are very simple and children can learn them already from around the age of three. Not everyone can or wants to become a professional chess player but everyone can use chess for learning. For this purpous I can recommend a book (net-bossorg/chess-puzzles-for-kids-by-maksim-aksanov) with bunch of great exercises, which will help you and your kids to be better in thisย ๐
Nice post.