Have you heard the news?? Lionsgate Home Entertainment’s impending DVD release of LeapFrog: MATH ADVENTURE TO THE MOON has caused the folks at Lionsgate Home Entertainment to do a ‘Count’down to the DVD release on February 23rd by offering up Math Tips aimed at easing a child’s fear of math and making learning fun.  I know I could have used those myself!!  Below are the first three tips for you to see if you can get the kiddos excited about math and the DVD release on Tuesday!


TIP #1:  Math is everywhere!
Next time you’re in a waiting room with your child, scan the room (or the magazines on the tables) for evidence of “math.”  Advise your child to find as much math as possible, and you can give clues if you need to.  Numbers, patterns, shapes, categories, and measuring devices (e.g., ruler, scales), are just a few examples of some of the math you might see all around you!

TIP #2:  Patterns and Codes are All Around Us!
Make patterns using standard household objects.  For example line up repeated objects–sock, stuffed animal, sock, stuffed animal, and so on.   Next, ask your child to continue the pattern to figure out the “secret code.”  You can vary the difficulty of the pattern to suit your child’s ability–banana, banana, pear, banana, banana, pear.  You can also make deliberate errors that your child needs to find–pear, apple, bananna, pear, apple, banana, pear, pear, banana.

TIP #3:  Play the Sorting Game!
Take a deck of cards, and discuss with your child all the ways you can sort the cards.  They can be sorted by color (red versus black), suit (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs), numbers (2’s, 3’s, etc.), royalty versus numbers (jacks, queens, and kings versus the numbers), odd versus even numbers, etc.  Sky is the limit!  You can play the sorting game with many collections of things around the house, such as socks and building  blocks.

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