Math

Math in the Tub

A few years ago when my son was in school they were covering equivalent measures such as 4quarts in a gallon, 2 cups in a pint, 8oz in a cup etc.  This was just too abstract for him to grasp.  We know it because we use it and what we don't use we may remember for a test but then later forget.  So I came up with a great and cheap hands on way.
Materials: 1gallon jug (I got a water jug for $.50 because I didn't want to take the time to wash out a milk jug)
1 quart container (I used a qt. fabric softener bottle and cut off the label so it was just white)
1 pint container (I used a small creamer and also cut off label)
1 plastic liquid measuring cup
black permanent marker
Procedure: wash and dry containers. Then with a permanent marker write several questions on each container (see the picture above)  On Gallon I wrote--How many Quarts fit inside a Gallon? How Many Pints fit inside a Gallon? How Many Cups fit inside a Gallon? How many Ounces fit inside a Gallon?  On the quart I began with How many Pints are in a Quart and went down to ounces.  In the pint I started with cups and went down to ounces.  Depending on your child's age you may want to begin with just a few questions.  You could get soap crayons if you want and have your child answer the question on the wall of the tub, we just did them orally.  Later when they wanted to bring the containers outside to use in the pool I gave them chalk to write the answers on the driveway (this was a team effort-one took the measurements the other recorded)

FRACTION CAKE
A beautiful 3-D cake to help your children understand fractional portions, values and equivalent fractions.  I suggest printing it on heavy paper. Also we only printed the fraction mats and cake pieces but not the box (we got a cake box from our local bakery, more sturdy this way and less printing and assembly) Here is the link for the downloads http://cp.c-ij.com/en/contents/2023/cake/index.html  Enjoy!