Using Christmas to Engage in Maths
Last week in the Education Support 4 Parents group, we were looking at different Mathematical Christmas activities and how we can use these to bring confidence into young people with Maths. I believe everyone can learn and appreciate Maths, it just takes the right teacher and the right activities. I like to inspire young people by finding activities that can be linked to the curriculum which they can understand.
The curriculum contains plenty of scope to do this, and with some creative thinking it is possible to enrich learning through other activities. Last week I discussed the skills of using compasses and suggested drawing a snowman.
Making Mathematical Baubles
There are many different mathematical shapes that can be used for baubles. Here is an icosahedron that I made for mine:
To make it, I had to use compasses and a ruler. After your child has made one, spark discussion by asking questions about the edges and faces.
Q. What shape is each face of a regular icosahedron?
A. equilateral triangle
Q. How does its name tell us if it is 3D or 2D?
A. hedron means it’s 3D
Q. How does its name tell me that it has 20 faces?
A: icosa-
You can go on to discuss further by asking how many edges it has, how many vertices, and so on.
Today was the last day of school, and now you’ll be spending some time together at home. Why not get creative with the whole family, with my NEW Special Edition: 12 Mathematical Days of Christmas. This little treasure comprises 12 creative maths activities that you can do with your children over the Christmas break. With challenges, questions to inspire discussion, and more, you will find hours of entertainment for your whole family. You can get it here for only £9.99!
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£3.99With so many resources available online it can be a...