Math & Movement

[Earthmerlin]

Howdy. I’m looking for ideas on incorporating some easy math during movement or exercise breaks. I’ve got a 5th grader who’s not too hot on math. During this shutdown, we’re playing in the yard a lot & have a nice driveway (w/ a hoop & chalk)  at our disposal. We also go on hikes regularly. What are some simple yet fun & educational math ideas I can use during these moments?

[mathmarm]

Write 3 or4 products from the multiplication table in on the concrete. Bounce the basketball through the number and in turns say the factors for each product.
So, if I pass the ball to him by bouncing the ball on ( 24 ), I say "1 x 24" then he catches it, says "or 24 x 1," then passes it back by bouncing it on 24 and says "2 x 12" and and when I catch the ball, I say "or 12 x 2" we keep going through 3 x 8, and 4 x 6, then who ever has the ball last picks a different number to factor-dribble through. Once he's really good with one or 2 of the numbers, swap them out with different products on the ground.
 

[mathmarm]

You can also put an array of squares on the ground and put fractions in only half of them. You can do the same activity with whole numbers or decimals as well. Have him jump on them from least to greatest, then flip it and hop greatest to least.

So, if you wrote 5/6, 1/7,   2/9,  1/2, 0/17 and 1/10 on the arrays squares. He could have to jump on them in order from least to greatest: 0/17,  1/10,  1/7, 2/9, 1/2, 5/6. Have him call out his jumps.

"I'll start on 0/17, cause that's just 0....then 1/10....next is *thinking* 1/7....."

A simple variation (that can significantly shorten the game) let him close his eyes and hop in to the array blindly. Then, he opens his eyes and starts with whatever value he lands on and goes down to the smallest or up to the largest value.