Make Math Stick

Trying to get your child to practice math doesn’t have to be a pain. Create a fun, colorful puzzle for them to solve instead.

What you’ll need:

• Adhesive notes (optional: different colors)
• A marker
• A piece of paper

Instructions:

• Create a decoder sheet – a list of every letter of the alphabet matched to a corresponding number.

• Choose a fun, short message for your child to decode. “You are awesome!” or a compliment for your child can be great starting points. (Our sample is “Go blue!”)

  
• Use your decoder sheet to identify the corresponding numbers for each letter in your message.
• Write a math problem on your first sticky note that equals the first letter of your message. Repeat with each letter in your message.
• Place the sticky notes in order on the wall.

Challenge your child to solve each note for the answer, then use the decoder sheet to find the corresponding letter.  When all the problems are solved, combine the letters to discover the secret message!

You can vary the math for different ages and learning levels.  Use division and multiplication with older kids, for example. For young kids, you could even just let them to add up the number of circles of stars on each sticky note.

Tell your child to put a check mark on the problems they thought were easy to solve, and an X on the ones that were tricky so you can go back to them.

This project was inspired by an activity here.

Find more Math & Science activities from Camp Little Victors