Can you recall where you first learned how to walk, say your first words, and sing your first nursery rhymes? The backdrop of these little memories and achievements are often our homes. After all, they say that our home is our very first school.

Now that classes are mostly done online, our homes are once again an extension of our classrooms. While staying safe, you can be creative and resourceful to keep your mind sharp! Try roaming around the house and repurposing home finds for your activities and projects! While you’re at it, look for the following items that you can use not only for your projects but also to help you practice your math skills.

1. Bubble wraps

Who doesn’t love popping bubble wraps?

Fortunately, you will have these lying around when your Mom or Dad orders fragile items online. Ask them to sanitize and keep the said wrap. Then, use it to help yourself get better at counting when you recite numbers as you pop each bubble in the wrap!

2. Dice and dominoes

Dig up and bring out the dice and dominoes that have been hiding in your toy or chest box. It’s time to use it to increase your addition and subtraction skills.

To make learning more fun, ask your family members to roll the dice twice and decide if they want you to add or subtract the two numbers from the dice. Use a timer so you can answer within a certain time limit – the shorter the time, the more fun and challenging it will be.

3. Measuring cups

As you help your parents prepare for dinner or bake a pastry, ask if you can learn about math by assisting them in measuring recipes or counting the ingredients as they pour them into the mixing bowl. You can also bring out your food scale to compare the weight of ingredients and find out which items are heavier and/or lighter. You can ask yourself, “How many more dark chocolate chips do I have to put into the container to make it heavier/lighter than the white chocolate chip container?” You can also ask your parents to teach you how to compare numbers using greater than (>), less than (<), and equals (=) symbols.

4. Clothes, clothespins and rope

Join your parents or older siblings while they take down the clean clothes hanging in the laundry area. To add math to this activity, identify how many clothes of a certain color are hanged or count how many clothes are hanging in each rope. Once all the clothes are neatly folded, you may use the clothespins to practice your subtraction skills. Ask your parents or older siblings to create questions similar to this: “There are 6 clothespins clipped on the rope. I kept 3 in the closet. How many are left?”

5. Receipts, bills, and grocery list

Don’t throw away bills and receipts after making a payment. After helping your parents fix the groceries, get all the water, electricity, and Internet bills and grocery receipts and check how much your family spends on these. You can also find out what home needs take up most of your family’s money. If you’re already an advanced learner, you can even suggest ways on how your family can save up by studying and looking into bills and receipts around the house.

Even if you’re at home, it doesn’t mean that there are few learning opportunities around you. Be resourceful and creative. Your surroundings are surely filled with fun activities that can also help you sharpen your math skills.

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