Mental Math is simply the act of performing mathematical calculations mentally, rather than with the help of a calculator or pencil and paper.
Mental Math is an important life skill that we use often for simple daily tasks, such as deciding which purchase is a better deal at the grocery store, or how many gallons of gas we can buy with the amount of money we have.
For children, Mental Math is an important part of learning and comprehending basic math skills.
Kids need to have a general understanding of beginning math concepts, and the ability to use them mentally, before they are ready to move on to more challenging ideas and techniques.
My 6 year old loves Mental Math! When we are driving in the car, while I’m cooking dinner, and even while he is getting ready for bed at night, he’ll come up with different equations to solve.
Sometimes he quizzes me, other times he’ll ask his brothers to solve them, but most often, he figures out the answer on his own, and proudly shares the information with anyone who will listen.
We recently made a simple Mental Math game that he really enjoyed.
What you need:
- Connect 4 Game
(We found ours at a local consignment shop for $3)
- Small circle stickers (The same ones we used for Shape Practice, Alphabet Checkers, and Peel & Stick – Letter Matching Game)
- Marker
(We found ours at a local consignment shop for $3)I started by using a marker to write numbers (I did 1-20) on the stickers. Then, I placed a sticker on each game piece.
I set the pieces, along with the game board on the floor and called Tobias (age 6) to come play.
The objective for this game, is to drop each piece into the game board, adding the numbers together (using mental math) until each row on the board is full.
I explained how to play, and he got busy…
He had so much fun with this game!
In the beginning, he felt it was too easy, but that quickly changed as the numbers got bigger and the addition became harder. Tobias was very proud of himself when he was able to figure out some of the more challenging problems…
This game provided a fun and engaging, hands-on way to work on addition and counting skills using Mental Math.
Finding activities that allow kids to play and learn, using materials in a new way, makes learning these basic skills so much more exciting.
Interested in more math ideas? Check out 25 Games & Activities To Practice Early Math Skills.