Select the age or grade of your child.

Say, “That billboard doesn’t have any numbers at all, just letters. Let’s see if we can find some signs that DO have numbers. There’s one. That’s a four. And that’s a nine. That’s math!” (Concept: Numerals)

Say, “Wow, that sign is really big! That one is, too. Which one do you think is bigger?” (Concept: Size)

Say, “That billboard is a rectangle. One side is longer than the other. Is it longer from side to side or is it longer up and down?” (Concept: Rectangles)

While driving with your child, notice the different things on billboards. Say, “Look at the number of hands and feet we can see on this billboard. Which are there more of?” (Counting & Cardinality, CCSS K.CC.C.6)

Say, “Let’s see how many billboards we can count in one minute.” After about a minute tell them, “Good job, let’s take a break.”

Let a minute or two pass and say, “Now let’s count for another minute. Do you remember what number we ended with? Let’s start there.” (Numbers & Operations in Base Ten, CCSS 1.NBT.A.1)

Say, “Wow! That’s a big sign! If we cut the sign from side to side, like this,” use your finger to show a horizontal line, “and up and down, like this,” do the same to draw a vertical line top to bottom, “how many rectangles would we have then?” (Geometry, CCSS 2.G.A.2)

Notice the different items you find on billboards. Compare the quantities. Say, “How many more small letters are there than big letters on the left side of that sign? How about on the other side?” (Measurement & Data, CCSS 3.MD.B.3)

Say, “That sign there looks like it’s twice as wide as it is tall. We could say it’s one unit tall and two units wide. We could also make our units smaller and say it’s TWO units tall and FOUR units wide.” (Numbers & Operations – Fractions, CCSS 4.NF.A.1)

Say, “That billboard is pretty high up there. We could measure its height in feet. If we knew how many feet high it was, we could convert that to yards.” (Measurement & Data, CCSS 5.MD.A.1)

Select the age or grade of your child.

Point out the increasing sizes of the wrenches to your child. Say, “Look at how each wrench gets a little bit bigger. Each wrench is a different size.” (Concept: Size)

Count the wrenches with your child. First count them smallest to largest, then from largest to smallest. Say, “We have seven wrenches. Either way we count them, we get seven!” (Concept: Verbal Counting)

Say, “Look, these wrenches have numbers on them.” Point out one of the wrenches to your child. “What number is this?” (Concept: Numerals)

Put the open ended wrenches in one pile, adjustable wrenches in another pile and combination wrenches in another. Say, “When we organize the wrenches this way, we’re classifying them into different categories. Will you help me count them now?” (Measurement & Data, CCSS K.MD.B.3)

Point out that each wrench has a type and a size. Ask, “How many wrenches are in each size category? How many of them are combination wrenches? This is like taking a survey and getting data!” (Measurement & Data, CCSS 1.MD.C.4)

Say, “There are seven wrenches in this set. There are eight in that other set. If we bought both of them, how many wrenches would we have altogether?” (Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS 2.OA.B.2)

Say, “There are seven wrenches in this set. Suppose we get one set for each person in the family. There are 13 people in the family. Let’s figure out how many wrenches we would end up with. If we bought 10 sets how many wrenches would we have?”

Allow your child to answer. “And if we bought three more sets that would be 21 more wrenches. If we add those two numbers together it’s the same number as 7×13!” (Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS 3.OA.C.7)

Look at the numbers on the sides of the wrenches. Ask, “Is there a pattern that the numbers follow?” Discuss the number pattern (even if each number just goes up one) and ask if there’s anything interesting about those numbers and the wrenches. Point out that each wrench that has a slightly larger number is a slightly larger size. (Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS 4.OA.C.5)

Pull out two sets of metric tools (they don’t have to be the same type of tools). Remove the odd numbered wrenches from one set. Ask your child to help you lay them out from smallest to largest.

Say, “Both of these sets start out at 10 mm. This set goes up by one each time and this set goes up by two. So the first wrench in each is 10mm. The second wrench in this set is 11mm, but in this set its 12mm. What’s the fifth wrench in each set?” (Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS 5.OA.B.3)

Select the age or grade of your child.

Say, “Fluid is measured in volume – it could be fluid ounces or liters. Those are the UNITS for volume.”

(Concept: Units)

Say, “Drinks are measured in VOLUME. That means the amount of space it takes up in the jug.” Pour them a glass of milk. “There’s more milk in the jug than in your glass. There’s more VOLUME of milk in the jug than in your glass.”

(Concept: Volume)

Say, “Drinks are measured in volume, but they still have weight. Feel how heavy the juice jug is.” Let them feel the weight of the juice. Say, “Now let’s pour everyone’s juice and feel the weight then.”

(Concept: Weight)

Say, “We have many different drinks. I wonder how many there are? Let’s count them.” Encourage your child to point at or touch each one as both of you count. Pause at each one while saying the next number. “Each drink gets a number. That’s math!”

(Counting & Cardinality, CCSS K.CC.B.4.a)

Say, “This jug of juice is 64 ounces. This 2 liter bottle is 68 ounces. To figure out which one has more we compare the tens place first. What is in the tens place for this one? That’s right – 6. And how about that one? Yep, 6 again. They’re equal in the ten’s place.”

“Now let’s do the one’s place.” Do the same for the one’s place. “So 8 is greater than 4, so that means this one can hold more.”

(Numbers & Operations in Base Ten, CCSS 1.NBT.B.3)

Use a permanent marker to draw an “up and down” number line on the milk jug. Number it from 0 on the bottom to 20 on the top.

Say, “Let’s measure our milk this week on the number line. How much milk do we have now?”

(Measurement & Data, CCSS 2.MD.B.6)

Say, “Let share this 16 ounce bottle of Sprite. I wonder how many ounces we each get if we split it evenly. How many ounces times two give us 16 ounces?”

(Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS 3.OA.A.4)

Say, “This carton of juice has a lot of shapes on it. What shape is this on the side? Yes, it’s a rectangle! The corners are made up of right angles – that means the two edges that come together in each corner are perpendicular. That’s geometry, and geometry is math.”

(Geometry, CCSS 4.G.A.2)

Bonus: Take a marker and draw a line from one corner to the opposite corner. Talk about the right triangles that are formed by the sides and the line.

Say, “As we put more ice cubes in our water, the level rises. That’s because we are adding more volume to our drink with each cube.” Add one and ask your kiddo to do the same and watch as the level rises. “Let’s see how many we need to bring the level all the way to the top.”

(Measurement & Data, CCSS 5.MD.C.4)

Select the age or grade of your child.

Say, “Let’s look at the trees in the park.” Point as you say, “This one is near the path. That one is far from the path. Near and far describe distance.” (Concept: Distance)

Say, “There are 2 lamp posts on this side and only 1 lamp post on that side. We can add 2 lamp posts plus 1 lamp post and we have 3 lamp posts altogether. We just did some math!” (Concept: Addition)

Say, “We know there are 5 benches along the whole trail. We’ve already passed 2 of them. How many more will we pass? We can use math to find out.” (Concept: Subtraction)

Ask your child to help you count the lamp posts or trees as you walk through the park. When you get to 7, say, “Let’s write that number on the ground with our shoe.” Do this a few times every 3rd or 4th number up to 20. (Counting & Cardinality, CCSS K.CC.A.3)

Say, “Let’s say each tree has 10 big branches on it. Let’s count some trees.” After counting 8 of them, say, “So we counted 8 trees. That means there are 8 sets of 10 branches, or 80 branches altogether. That’s math!” Do this with other amounts of trees too. (Numbers & Operations in Base Ten, CCSS 1.NBT.B.2a)

Use a ruler or a tape measure to become familiar with the length of a foot. Say, “A foot is about this long.” Show your child the length with your hands. “How many feet high do you think that lamp post is?” (Measurement & Data, CCSS 2.MD.A.3)

Bonus: Use your hands to measure 5 or 6 feet up and estimate from there how many more feet high it is.

Say, “Let’s suppose there are 72 tree branches in this area of the park. If we know there are nine trees here, how do you think we could come up with 72 tree branches?” Give them some time to think about it then add, “What if we knew that every tree had exactly the same number of branches?” (Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS 3.OA.B.6)

Say, “Let’s pretend there are 100 tree branches in this whole park. This tree has 12 branches. That means 12/100 of the branches in the whole park are on this tree. We can also say it’s 0.12 of all the branches. Decimals and fractions are just different ways of saying the same thing.” (Numbers & Operations – Fractions, CCSS 4.NF.C.6)

Choose a tree off the path. Say, “If you wanted to tell someone how to get to that tree from here, you could give them coordinates. Let’s count the steps down the path, then the steps into the grass.” Counts steps until you’re even with the tree. “That’s 15 steps.” Then walk into the grass until you reach the tree. “That’s 4 steps. So 15 steps down the path and 4 steps into the grass. Coordinates are math.” (Geometry, CCSS 5.G.A.2)

Select the age or grade of your child.

Say, “These chips are triangles. Each one has 1, 2, 3… three sides. Triangles are math!”
(Concept: Shapes)

Say, “Each person needs a fork. Let’s put one next to each plate so everyone will have a fork to eat with. One fork for one person!” (Concept: One-to-one correspondence)

After the table is set with glasses, plates, and forks, remove a fork from one place setting. Say, “There’s a pattern here. Glass, plate, fork. Glass, plate, fork. Glass, plate,… What’s missing?” After they answer, say, “Patterns are math!” (Concept: Patterns)

Give your child 7 chips. Say, “Look at how many chips you have. Let’s count them.” After they count, ask, “How many more do we need to make 10? We have 7. Then 8, 9, 10…That’s 3 more to make 10. That’s math!” (Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS K.OA.A.4)

Say, “We can measure just about anything using these chips. How about our fork?” Lay the chips out next to the fork so they touch. “This forks is about 3 chips long. What else can we measure?” Help your child measure something they choose. (Measurement & Data, CCSS 1.MD.A.2)

Say, “If the chips were dollars and the pieces of kiwi were dimes, how much would you have?” (Measurement & Data, CCSS 2.MD.C.8)

Bonus: Change it up to use other food on their plate. For instance, you can use pieces of fruit for quarters, or beans as pennies.

Point out that the chips have three sides. Say, “This chip has three sides. It’s a triangle. And all three sides are exactly the same.”

Take the table knife and make a triangle out of the corner of the table. Say, “The corner of the table with the knife also makes a triangle. It has three sides, too. But the three sides aren’t all the same. It’s a different kind of triangle.” (Geometry, CCSS 3.G.A.1)

Take 9 ice cubes out of the freezer and place them in a bowl. Say, “We have 9 ice cubes and three cups. Let’s put 3 out of the 9 in this cup, 2 of the 9 in this cup, and 4 out of 9 in the last. If we add them all together, we still have 9 of the 9 ice cubes we started with. But it looks like they’re starting to melt!” (Numbers & Operations – Fractions, CCSS 4.NF.B.3b)

Say, “The bag had 100 chips in it. I put 12 chips on my plate. That’s 12 hundredths of the bag, or 0.12. If all three of us got the same number of chips, what decimal part of the bag did we use?” (Numbers & Operations in Base Ten, CCSS 5.NBT.B.7)

Select the age or grade of your child.

Say, “This blanket is on top of the coach. Now, it’s on top of the coffee table. Can you help me to put it UNDER the coffee table? Now let’s put it under the cushion. Under helps us with math!” (Concept: Ordering)

Say, “Which one is larger – the couch or the table? How about this chair and the rug?” If there answer isn’t obvious, ask them to explain by saying, “Ok, how is this one bigger than that one?” Let them think about it and try to explain. “Bigger is a math word, you know.” (Concept: Comparing)

Say, “Give me 3 cushions, please. Thank you! Now, take two of them back.” After they take two, say, “Now, how many do I have left? That’s right, I just have 1 left. We just subtracted!” (Concept: Subtraction)

Using the cushions of the coach, say, “We have 2 cushions here, and 2 here. That’s 1, 2, 3, 4. So we have 4 cushions altogether. What if I had 4 cushions and I gave you 3 of them. How many would I have left?” Do a few more like this encouraging your child to be involved. (Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS K.OA.A.5)

Using masking tape or electrical tape, divide the top of your coffee table in half, then in half the other direction. Say, “There are four equal parts to the top of the table. One of the spots is one fourth. Two of the spots is TWO fourths. And that’s the same as one half. See, it’s half of the whole table. That’s math!” (Geometry, CCSS 1.G.A.3)

Using a stack of paper, say, “Let’s see how many of these pieces of paper it takes to cover the sitting area of the coach.” Help your child to lay the papers out edge to edge and count them once it’s covered. “So that’s 3 pieces of paper wide and 6 pieces long. That’s math.” (Geometry, CCSS 2.G.A.2)

Say, “We could measure this rug one way, but that just tells us how long it is. If we measure the other way, too, and multiply those, we’ll know how much of the floor it covers. In math we call that area.” (Measurement & Data, CCSS 3.MD.C.5)

Bonus: Use a tape measure and actually measure the length and width with your child.

Say, “We have 5 sitting spots in the living room and 4 spots in the dining room. If we had 7 people to visit, and there are 4 of us, how can we figure out if we need more chairs? Math can help!” Help your child to figure out how many. (Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS 4.OA.A.3)

Say, “Let’s split those couch cushions? I’m going to take ¹/₂ of them, and you take ¹/₂ of them. One half of 4 means ¹/₂ x 4, or 4÷2. What if I wanted only ¹/₄ of the pillows and I wanted to give you ³/₄?” (Numbers & Operations – Fractions, CCSS 5.NF.B.4a)

Select the age or grade of your child.

Say, “There are a lot of numbers on the dash board. These NUM-bers tell us how fast things are going. Speed and numbers are math!”(Concept: Numbers)

Say, “This pointer tells us how much gas we have left. When the pointer is here it means one quarter, this is one half, and this one means three quarters. Those are all fractions. Can you say FRAC-tions?” (Concept: Fractions)

Say, “Do you see the ’10′? It’s right here. What’s the number above that one? That’s right! It’s 20. Let’s count by 10s all the way around.” Help your child to count by 10s with you. (Concept: Counting by 10s)

Point out the RPM gauge. Say, “These numbers are all in a row. Let’s take a look at the 4. Which number is above it? That’s right, the 5. That’s because 5 is 1 greater than 4. Which number is one LESS than 4?” (Counting & Cardinality, CCSS K.CC.B.4c)

Say, “Take a look at the speedometer. That’s this gage here that shows us how fast we are going.” Explain that from one number to the next is 10 more or 10 less. “If we are traveling at 60 miles per hour and slow down 20 mph, how fast will we be going then?” (Numbers & Operations in Base Ten, CCSS 1.NBT.C.6)

Use coins or raisins to line up on the console. Say, “Let’s line these up in columns – the first column is how many times we take my car, the second column is how many times we take mom’s car. That’s a picture graph!” (Measurement & Data, CCSS 2.MD.D.10)

Say, “It’s 13 miles from our house to the store. It’s 6 miles from the store to the gas station. And it’s 8 miles from the house to the gas station. We have enough gas right now to drive 17 miles. Where do you think we should go first?”  (Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS 3.OA.D.8)

Say, “These numbers here – that’s the odometer. It tells us how far we drive. It reads 146,225 miles. Rounding to the nearest thousand it would be 146,000 miles. What do you think it would be rounded to the nearest ten thousand?” (Numbers & Operations in Base Ten, CCSS 4.NBT.A.3)

Say, “When we go to Grandmother’s house, it’s 23 miles away. When we go to Nana’s house, it’s about five times as far. Is the distance to Nana’s house more or less than the distance to Grandmother’s? A lot, or just a little?” (Numbers & Operations – Fractions, CCSS 5.NF.B.5a)

Select the age or grade of your child.

After getting all the ingredients out for the recipe, say, “Ingredients are things we put in the bowl. Let’s count how many we have.” Point to each item and count the next number. “1, 2, 3. We have 3 ingredients. Can you say three?” (Concept: Counting)

Using a measuring cup, say “This is one-half of a cup. ‘One-half’ is a fraction. Can you say ‘FRAC-tion’?” Help them to say it out loud once or twice. (Concept: Fractions)

Use the 1/2 cup measuring cup to measure the flour. Say, “If I put in 5 scoops of the flour, and you put in 4 scoops, that’s 9 scoops altogether. Let’s count as we do it.” (Concept: Addition)

After you make some of the cookies, say, “There are 12 cookies here. 12 is the same thing as 1 set of 10 cookies, and 2 single cookies. That’s math for you!” (Numbers & Operations in Base Ten, CCSS K.NBT.A.1)

Say, “If we’re going to make twice as much, we need to mix twice the ingredients. So instead of 1 pound of butter, we need to use 1 pound plus 1 pound. Is that 3 pounds?” Give your little one some time to think about it. Help them understand that 1 + 1 = 3 is a false statement. (Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS 1.OA.D.7)

Use the 1/2 cup measuring cup to measure the flour. Say, “We need to add 4 scoops of flour to 5 scoops of flour. We can either add 4 to 5, or we can add 2 to 5 and then add 2 again!” (Numbers & Operations in Base Ten, CCSS 2.NBT.B.9)

Using a 1 cup measuring cup, say, “Let’s put a cup of flour in here and look at it from the side. How much would be half? About here? Or here?” Encourage your child to point to where they think half would be. “Great, let’s pour some out until we have half of a cup.”(Measurement & Data, CCSS 3.MD.B.4)

Triple the recipe above. Use the actual ingredients in their original amounts to see how the “technical” multiplication by 3 is the same as reality. (Then enjoy the cookies!) (Numbers & Operations – Fractions, CCSS 4.NF.B.4)

Double the recipe above. Say, “You know, 1 1/2 cups of sugar is the volume of sugar we need for one recipe. To double the recipe, we multiply that volume by 2. How much is that?” (Measurement & Data, CCSS 5.MD.C.5)

Bonus: Say, “How many cups of flour do we need if we double this recipe?”

Select the age or grade of your child.

Point to the different numbers on oven and stove. Say, “The oven makes things hot. These numbers help us to control how hot it gets. That’s math!” (Concept: Heat)

Say, “When we turn the stove on, it gets hot. When we turn it off, it cools down. These are changes in temperature. What’s something in the kitchen that makes things cold?” Open and talk about the refrigerator and freezer. Let your child feel the cold air coming out of them. (Concept: Temperature)

Say, “The top of the stove can get hot. The higher the number the hotter it gets. We increase the number to increase the heat. That’s math!” (Concept: Direct Proportion)

Say, “Do you see the numbers on the stove? The greater the number that we turn the dial to, the hotter the burner gets. The 5 is hotter than the 4, and the 4 is a little hotter than the 3, and so on. That’s math!” (Counting & Cardinality, CCSS K.CC.C.7)

Say, “It takes about 5 minutes to heat the oven and 8 minutes to cook dinner. How can we find out how long it will take?” Let them think about it. Holding up 5 fingers, say “We can also take 2 from the 5″ fold down two fingers, “and give it to the 8 to make 10. And what’s 10 plus 3?,” pointing to the remaining three fingers. (Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS 1.OA.C.6)

When baking, think about the time required for your recipe. Say, “A meatloaf typically takes about 45 minutes to bake. Our dinner needs to cook for 30 minutes. How many more or less minutes does our dinner need than meatloaf?”(Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS 2.OA.A.1)

Say, “Sometimes you have to cool something before you eat it. We can add the prep time, baking time, and cooling time together to find out how long it will be until dinner is ready. That’s math!” (Measurement & Data, CCSS 3.MD.A.1)

Bonus: Before making dinner, present this idea and give your child the different times. Ask them to figure out what time dinner will be ready. Help them with these calculations.

When baking, note the temperature required of a recipe. Say, “Many recipes call for baking at 350 degrees. This one wants me to bake it for 75 degrees more than that. How many degrees do I need the oven to be?” (Numbers & Operations in Base Ten, CCSS 4.NBT.B.4)

Say, “This oven is pretty big inside. It can hold a large volume of food to cook. What if we made the inside of the oven a little taller.” Take a moment to talk about how the volume would increase. “What else could we do to the inside to increase the volume?” Talk about making it deeper and/or wider. (Measurement & Data, CCSS 5.MD.C.3)

Select the age or grade of your child.

Say, “These drawers are tall. That shelf is taller. It’s higher up. Can you say TALL-er?” Coach them in saying the word. Remember to be patient and to reward effort. “Good job! Taller is a math word!” (Concept: Height)

Say, “When we hang clothes in the closet, they are vertical. Vertical means up and down – like this.” Gesture with your hand from the top of the clothes, to the bottom and back up. “Can you say ‘VER-ti-cal’? That’s math!” (Concept: Vertical)

Say, “In the closet the shoes are below the hanging clothes. That means the hanging clothes are above the shoes. Is this set of drawers above or below the hanging clothes?” Give them a moment to think about it. “How about these shelves?” (Concept: Below and above)

Say, “There are lots of shapes in the closet. Let’s see if we can find some.” After giving your child a chance, point out that the door and/or the doorjamb makes a rectangle, the opening of the hangers look like triangles, and that part of the door knob looks like a circle. (Geometry, CCSS K.G.A.2)

Say, “You have 7 of your shirts hanging up, 3 in the wash, and 5 ready to be folded. We can use math to find out how many shirts you have altogether!” Help them to add two of the numbers. Then help them use that number to add to the third number. (Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS 1.OA.A.2)

Use a clothes hanger to measure the clothes that are hanging. Say, “This shirt is about two hangers long, and these pants are only one and a half hangers long. Measure that dress. How much longer is it than the shirt?” (Measurement & Data, CCSS 2.MD.A.4)

Say, “All shoes come in pairs. If we count the number of shoes in our closet, there will be an even number because there are two of each one. We can also multiply the number of pairs because each pair has two shoes.”  (Operations & Algebraic Thinking, CCSS 3.OA.D.9)

Point out that opening the closet door makes an angle with both the doorjamb and the wall. Say, “the angle of the door to the doorjamb plus the angle of the door to the wall equals the angle when the door is all the way open.” (Measurement & Data, CCSS 4.MD.C.7)

Look at a shoebox that still has the price tag on it. Say, “These shoes originally cost $25. That’s two $10 bills and five $1 bills. What if we switched the digits? If the shoes were $52, how many $10 bills would that be?” (Numbers & Operations in Base Ten, CCSS 5.NBT.A.1)