When your child says “No more maths!”
Have you ever had a day, when no matter how much you entice, nag or bribe, there’s no way your child is going anywhere near any maths? Despite colourful paid maths programs such as Maths-Whizz or video driven free programs such as Khan Academy, both featuring cool built-in rewards, there’ll be days when “doing some sums” will be the last thing your child wants to do. For days and weeks like this, check out these “Non-Maths” websites with your child, and hope they don’t notice their maths brain cells secretly making new connections!
1) Science and maths documentaries at PBS.com
Great for those of you in the US, the PBS website features some great science and maths documentaries which can be watched in full from their website. Check out The Fabric of the Cosmos: What Is Space? or The Amazing Atomic Clock . For younger children, check out PBS Kids for some fun preschool programs featuring maths. Sesame Street and Dinosaur Train usually contain some nice maths.
2) Math Humour at Math Fail
Math Fail is the maths version of the humorous Failblog website. Featuring maths cartoon, jokes and pictures and examples of maths failures, this site will have you and your preteen or teen chuckling about maths. A recent favorite quote, “Love is like pi, natural, irrational and very important!”
3) Riveting maths at TED.com
My daughter loves the presentations on the TED website. Ranging from 5-20 mins on a range of topics, from technology to entertainment, these talks are often inspiring, sometimes controversial and always full of ideas worth spreading. For maths specific videos, take a look at Marcus du Sautoy: Symmetry, reality’s riddle or Conrad Wolfram: Teaching kids real math with computers but you’ll also find talks on economics, data visualizations and origami that feature plenty of maths.
4) More Maths and Science on BBC iPlayer
As a Brit, I’m definitely biased when I say that the BBC makes the best documentaries in the world. For those in the UK, you can find superb maths rich science documentaries such as “How to Build” and “Explosions: How We Shook the World” all available to stream or download onto your computer.
5) Extreme maths at the Guinness Book of Records
Faster, larger, stronger, higher, The Guinness Book of World Records is a fun packed website that even the most maths averse child will love. With amazing photos and videos of featured record holders, your child will soon be delving into the statistics behind these feats and phenomena!
6) Sporting stats with Fantasy Football
This is a cool maths project for soccer crazy kids! With £100 million in virtual cash to spend on your squad, the ability to compete in open or private leagues and weekly team picking, there’s maths practice galore in this free online virtual competition. Yahoo’s NFL and baseball fantasy competitions are also available in season.
7) Visually stimulating charts and graphs at Daily Infographic
My favorite from this list. I get the Daily Infographic emails delivered straight to my inbox. I try not to miss an opportunity to share these maths filled infographics with my 2 preteens. Some of the topics may not appeal to children, but many are a great way to integrate maths with subjects like health, fitness, economics, sports and movies.
8) Speed, distance and time at Google Maps
On a recent vacation to east coast USA, my 10 year old and I were wrestling over the iPhone, jostling to get control of the Google Maps app to see who was going to lead the family to our latest playground discovery. Our trip planning used time and distance calculations and the integration of local public transport timetables gave us extra data to keep an eye on.
9) Conversions and scaling at AllRecipes
A yummy maths distraction, the AllRecipes website has a cool scaling feature that allows budding chefs to scale recipes up and down and change measurements from imperial to metric. Let your child work out quantities to help you plan your next dinner party or a quick solo snack and then check the answers using the scaling feature.
10) Stacks of cash at Kids Fantasy Stock Exchange
You need to be a UK resident to be eligible for the prizes on this fantasy stock exchange online game for kids. A US version can be found here. Let your child loose with huge amounts of virtual money to buy and sell stocks (“Mmmm, Greggs Doughnuts, they taste good, I think I’ll buy some stocks in that” announced my always hungry son!) Your child will soon realize that the value of their investment could go down as well as up!
Bookmark this list of cool “Non math websites” and share it with friends for some hidden maths opportunities!
Great article, I love it! Sneak the math in when they aren’t looking. Great finds and a great article. Thanks!
Thanks for passing by Ryan! Yes I think it’s the maths equivalent of blending veggies into a pasta sauce!
Nice list if sites. I like Math Fail as I shared with my niece and enjoy it a lot. Congrats.
I agree with the idea of using whatever outside hobby the child is into to incorporate math skills. Sports, collectables, etc.
When I was a kid, I loved stats. Collected cards for the stats, bought magazines for the stats. Now I play daily fantasy sports and ….I still love stats. I believe 100% that my love of stats is the reason that I got honors in Math in High School.