7 Ways to Use Halloween to Promote Math Skills

Make math less tricky and more of a treat for your kids with these Halloween tips from the education and children's research experts at PBS Kids' series CYBERCHASE, now in it's fifth season of entertaining kids while teaching them math skills.

1. Let the kids decide how much candy to buy. (No, really!) Estimate the number of trick-or-treaters your family can expect. Some questions to consider:

• How many people came last year?

• What's the weather supposed to be like?

• Discuss with your child about whether it's better to estimate high or low. "High‚" makes sense if you don't want to run out of candy and you like leftover treats. "Low‚" makes more sense if rain is expected or if you don't want leftovers.

• Decide how many pieces to give each visitor. Then, engage your child's estimation skills and have him or her figure out how many total pieces you should buy. Depending on your child's skill level, you might want to use repeated addition, or use multiplication. But do the math together and talk about it as you go.

2. Then go to the store and pick out the candy. You can either estimate how many pieces are included in each bag and do the math, or estimate the weight of the total number of pieces (assuming, perhaps, 25 pieces per pound) and buy enough to cover your estimate.

3. Talk fractions while making Halloween treats. Learning is baked right in! Invite your child to help you measure out the ingredients before you begin. As you're working, ask "What if …?" questions. For example, if the recipe calls for one cup of flour, how many scoops would you use if you only had a 1/3 cup measure? And how can you substitute 2 tablespoons for 4 tablespoons?

4. Have your kids to categorize their candy. After you finish trick-or-treating, ask your child to divide the treats into piles based on a "secret rule‚" which you have to guess. For example, your child might sort all the chocolate into one pile and everything else into a second pile. Using reasoning skills, you would guess that "chocolate" and "not chocolate‚" were the secret attributes. Other criteria might be color, shape, size or brand. Reverse the roles.

5. Challenge your child to estimate the pumpkin's weight before you carve it. Then, find the exact weight by putting it on a bathroom scale. (For an alternative method, weigh your child on a bathroom scale and then weigh your child holding the pumpkin. Subtract the first number from the second to find the answer.) Ask your child how many of your pumpkins it would take to weigh the same as him or her? You can use repeated addition with your child to find a close answer.

6. Teach geometry skills when carving the pumpkin. Make an outline of your pumpkin on a piece of paper and plan what its face is going to look like. Ask: What simple geometric shape can we use for the eyes? The nose? The mouth? How can we combine shapes to make fun facial features? Once you have your plan, map it out on the pumpkin and carve it!

7. Talk to your child and agree on how much time you will spend trick-or-treating. What time will you leave? When will you return? If you plan to be out for an hour and a half, and you leave at 5:45 p.m., what time will you return? If it takes 25 minutes to walk to your cousin's house, and it's 6:10 p.m. now, when will you get there?

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