Discover more fun games, and activities for you and your kids at PBSParents.org.
Activities
There's nothing like a math problem – or worse, a fraction – to get even the bravest parent's heart pumping. Maybe you feel comfortable helping your child with addition and subtraction, maybe you don't. But here's the secret: you are good at math and you practice it dozens of times a day, even if you don't realize it. Going to the store, cooking, driving and even filling the bathtub all involve math skills.
There's no one more qualified than you to help your child learn the skills he or she needs to be successful in math and beyond. With the help of these simple at-home activities, you can make math fun (really) in every day life. By the time fractions come around, you'll know you're already a pro.
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Cat in the Hat: A House Just Right for Me!
Skills:
- Measurement,
- Spatial Sense
Practice measurement skills by building a house for a favorite toy or character like the Cat in the Hat.
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Cat in the Hat: Follow the Pasta Path
Skills:
- Spatial Sense
Build a path out of pasta to help the Cat in the Hat get back together with his friends.
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Cat in the Hat: Go on a Length Hunt
Skills:
- Measurement
Grab a piece of string and go on a measuring expedition around the house.
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Cat in the Hat: How Many Ways Old Are You?
Skills:
- Addition,
- Counting,
- Numbers
Explore the many ways you can represent and count numbers.
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Cat in the Hat: Hunting for Treasure Up, Down, All Around
Skills:
- Spatial Sense
Create a series of position clues to lead your child to a hidden “treasure.”
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Cat in the Hat: Shape Hunt Adventure
Skills:
- Shapes
Find shapes around your house or neighborhood.
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Cat in the Hat: Thinga-ma-jigger Hide-and-Seek
Skills:
- Spatial Sense
Use clues to help your child find the Thinga-ma-jigger’s hiding place.
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Counting Around the House
Skills:
- Counting
The purpose of this activity is to help your child explore numbers and counting, an important step toward learning how to add and subtract.
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Curious George: Hands Down!
Skills:
- Counting
Count with George using your hands!
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Curious George: How Many Colors?
Skills:
- Counting
Count different colored objects!
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Cyberchase: 3-D Botopolis House
Skills:
- Shapes
Transform a 2-D shape into a 3-D building with some strategic folding and gluing.
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Cyberchase: Coin Toss
Skills:
- Counting,
- Money
Practice counting by ones, fives, and tens as you launch coins with a spoon.
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Cyberchase: Padlock
Skills:
- Addition,
- Numbers
Crack the two-number code to open Hacker’s padlock.
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Dinosaur Train: Balancing Act
Skills:
- Measurement
Turn your child into a human “balance scale” to compare the weights of different objects.
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Dinosaur Train: Bridge Builder
Skills:
- Addition,
- Counting,
- Measurement
Sheets of paper become pieces of wood as your child constructs a bridge for a hungry dino friend.
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Dinosaur Train: Dino-mite Patterns
Skills:
- Letters,
- Patterns
Make patterns with letters!
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Dinosaur Train: Shape Scavenger Hunt
Skills:
- Shapes,
- Spatial Sense
Hunt for hidden shapes and learn what makes each shape unique.
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Dinosaur Train: Thirsty Dinosaurs!
Skills:
- Measurement
Explore the concept of capacity as you help thirsty dinosaurs of all sizes get the water they need.
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Family Feet
Skills:
- Data Analysis,
- Measurement
Help your child compare different items and put them in order, estimate (guess) their sizes, and then measure to find out.
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FETCH!: Birthday Calculator Math
Skills:
- Addition,
- Numbers
Use a calculator to solve a repeat addition problem and then solve the same problem with multiplication.
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FETCH!: Keeping Track of My Day
Skills:
- Measurement
Creating a daily schedule helps kids organize events in a sequence and associate events with a time of day.
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Fill It Up!
Skills:
- Measurement,
- Spatial Sense
Help your child compare different containers and how much liquid they hold.
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Fizzy's Lunch Lab 2012: Lost in Greasy World!
Skills:
- Spatial Sense
Use spatial skills to put together a map that has been broken up into pieces.
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Fizzy's Lunch Lab 2012: Measuring with Mixie-Bot
Skills:
- Measurement
Measure with a favorite character to understand the value of standardized units of measure, such as inches and feet.
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Fizzy's Lunch Lab 2013: Fresh Pick Challenge: Lunch Counter
Skills:
- Addition,
- Counting,
- Money
Help your child create a simple lunch counter where she can learn about dollars and cents and sharpen her business skills at the same time.
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Fizzy's Lunch Lab 2013: Fresh Pick Challenge: Pantry Search
Skills:
- Spatial Sense
Put your child in charge of building a pantry that Corporal Cup would be proud of.
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Fizzy’s Lunch Lab 2013: Fresh Pick Challenge: Logical Lunch
Skills:
- Deductive Reasoning,
- Sorting and Classifying
Use deductive reasoning skills to help Henry and Avril pack a perfect picnic lunch.
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Home Collections
Skills:
- Patterns,
- Shapes
Collect small items from around the house and sort them in different ways.
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Martha Speaks: Mixed-Up Headlines
Skills:
- Vocabulary,
- Writing
Explore a newspaper, and then give its headlines a creative makeover.
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Martha Speaks: Sharing Family Stories
Skills:
- Storytelling
Open up your family history book by connecting your child to a family story.
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Martha Speaks: Silly Sentences
Skills:
- Vocabulary,
- Writing
Build vocabulary and writing skills by collecting “word bones” from a newspaper.
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Martha Speaks: Silly Story Builder
Skills:
- Storytelling
Create silly stories by drawing story parts out of a bag.
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Number Cards
Skills:
- Addition,
- Numbers
Create a set of number cards from a cereal box with numerals and corresponding dots for a variety of games like "Count and Seek," "Count and Move," and "Which is More?"
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Play Dough Shapes
Skills:
- Measurement,
- Shapes
Make your own play dough and help your child identify shapes and make patterns.
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Sid the Science Kid: Let's Measure!
Skills:
- Measurement
Experiment with different sizes of non-standard units such as paperclips and pencils.
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Sid the Science Kid: Searching for Symmetry
Skills:
- Shapes,
- Spatial Sense
Use folding paper cutouts and mirrors to investigate lines of symmetry.
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Sorting At Home
Skills:
- Data Analysis,
- Patterns
Invite your child to help with the sorting you do every day during household chores.
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Super Why: Cupcake Math
Skills:
- Measurement,
- Numbers,
- Patterns
Cooking with kids is a great way to teach kids about measurement and help them learn the language of math.
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Super Why: Number Memory
Skills:
- Numbers,
- Words
Play a memory game with numbers.
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The Electric Company: Laugh-o-Graph
Skills:
- Data Analysis,
- Measurement
Create a laugh graph to rate your favorite jokes and figure out which one is the funniest.
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The Electric Company: Pin the Word on the Target
Skills:
- Spatial Sense,
- Words
Practice using position words to direct someone to an object's location.
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The Electric Company: Reverse-a-Ball Word Challenge
Skills:
- Data Analysis,
- Measurement,
- Vocabulary
Francine’s evil Reverse-a-Balls are scrambling words around your house. Help your child unscramble them.
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The Electric Company: The Power of Zero
Skills:
- Counting,
- Numbers,
- Words
Kids learn about place value while playing a fun card game.
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Treasure Map
Skills:
- Shapes,
- Spatial Sense
Help your child develop his/her understanding of direction.
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Up, Down, All Around: Location Words
Skills:
- Spatial Sense,
- Words
Play games and sing songs that help your child understand and use location words.
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What's in the Bag?
Skills:
- Shapes,
- Words
Play a game where you and your child describe and name different shaped objects.
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Wild Kratts: Adding Up Animal Habitats
Skills:
- Addition,
- Subtraction
Learn about local animals and their habitats while practicing basic math skills.
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Wild Kratts: Bird Feeder Fractions
Skills:
- Fractions,
- Measurement
Have fun feeding your neighborhood birds while boosting your child’s measurement skills and introducing fractions.
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Wild Kratts: Temperature Scavenger Hunt
Skills:
- Data Analysis,
- Measurement,
- Subtraction
What are temperatures like where you live? Discover the many ways you measure temperature inside and outside your house.
