School-Age Fun
Number Fun Unit
Gee Whiz Developmental Areas &
Learning Indicators
Language Development (LD1, LD2, LD3, LD4)
Literacy Knowledge (LK1, LK2, LK3, LK4, LK5)
Math Knowledge
(MK1, MK2, MK3, MK4, MK5, MK6)
Science Knowledge (SK1, SK2, SK3)
☺ Approaches to Learning (AL1, AL2, AL3)
? Logic & Reasoning (LR1, LR2)
Social Studies Knowledge (SS1, SS2, SS3, SS4)
and Creative Arts & Music (CA1, CA2, CA3, CA4)
Social & Emotional Development (SE1, SE2, SE3, SE4)
Physical Development & Health (PD1, PD2, PD3, PD4, PD5)
School-Age Fun Booklet
The experiences included in this booklet are designed for children in the KG to 3rd grade age group. These activities are not just fun, they are educational as well. Be sure to adapt and modify for your individual children as needed.
Below you will see a box that contains the developmental areas the experiences included in this booklet address and the associated picture codes. When you read the activity plans, just look for these codes. They will tell you what developmental areas you are addressing as you do each experience. This makes documentation super easy and enables you to make sure you are addressing all developmental areas for all developmental levels on a consistent basis. Please see our User’s Guide for more information on the 10 developmental areas and the 40 Gee Whiz Learning Indicators.
Following this page, you will find hands-on experiences for your school-age/afterschool children. Items in red may need a little more time to prep or gather. We hope you find them super easy to follow and a lot of fun! Please, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] if you have any questions.
This symbol indicates the experience addresses character
education.
Get Moving!
This symbol indicates the experience helps children build gross
motor skills.
This symbol indicates the experience can, or
should, be done outdoors.
Number Fun Unit
Which is Larger?
(Developmental Areas: ☺ ) Materials:
Price tag cards, prepared - To make, simply print prices on index cards. Make two cards for each price. Include an assortment of prices, including large and small.
• School-age children are old enough to begin to read prices.
This is actually an important life skill. This experience uses a game to not only help the children practice reading prices but also match them. As the children play the game, they will build numeral recognition skills, learn more about prices, build visual discrimination skills and play a game together as a group.
• To begin, spread out the price tag cards on a table and invite those children who show interest to join you. Where have the children seen prices like these in their
community? What do they know about prices? Invite the children to compare and contrast the price tags. Do they know what the $ symbol means?
• Next, introduce the game Price Tag Match. To play, have the children turn the price tag cards face down on the table. Arrange the cards in a grid pattern. Then, have the children take turns turning over 2 cards. If the prices match, the child can take the pair and then turn over 2 more cards. If the prices do not match, the child turns the cards face down and play continues. Also, as each child completes a match, challenge him/her to read the price.
This will help you evaluate each child’s skill level in this area.
• EXTENSION: Have the children add more prices to the game to make it more challenging. They can use grocery store sale flyers to help them find more prices and then use index cards to create more cards for the game. Having more prices/cards will make the game more challenging.
Materials:
Ingredients and equipment for making muffins (see the picture recipe on p. 5)
Copy of the picture recipe on p. 5
• Cooking and baking are two activities that involve numerals in many different ways. You need to be able to follow a recipe and gather the correct number of items you need (e.g., two eggs). You also need to be able to measure and set a temperature on an oven.
Today the children will follow a simple recipe for making muffins. This will enable them to practice skills in all of these areas.
• Set out a copy of the picture recipe (p. 5) and all of the ingredients needed. As children show interest, invite them to predict what they think they are going to make based on the ingredients. Then, have the children follow the recipe to help prepare the muffins. As the children measure, be sure to talk about measurement.
This is a very meaningful time to do so.
• As the children help to prepare the muffins, encourage them to talk about who cooks and bakes in their family. What foods do they prepare? How do they prepare them? This is an excellent way to interweave diversity into your program.
• Once the muffin batter is ready, the children can help fill the muffin cups and then you can put the trays in the oven. Encourage the children to predict how they believe the batter will change when it bakes. Be sure to have the children also help set the timer to check on the muffins as they bake. This is yet another way to interweave math into the experience! Once the muffins are baked, and cooled, eat and enjoy!
• EXTENSION: Challenge the children to watch to see how their parents/guardians use math when baking and cooking at home. They can share this information with the group.
Focus: Numerals Tell How Many or How Much
Questions to Spur Thinking
• What do you think we are going to make?
• How do we use numerals and measurement when cooking/baking?
• What do you like most about cooking and baking?
• Who cooks and bakes at your house?
Questions to Spur Thinking
• Where have you seen price tags in our community?
• Why do you think stores put price tags on the things they sell?
• How can you tell which price is the highest? Lowest?
• How could you use these price tags to play a different game?
• If you owned a store, what would you sell? What prices would you put on items?
Bowling Math
(Developmental Areas:
☺
) Questions to Spur Thinking• What did you like best about this game?
• When do you use addition and subtraction?
• Why do you think it is so important to know how to add and subtract?
Number Fun Unit
Pass the Fact
(Developmental Areas:
☺
) Materials: 10 empty plastic water bottles (clean/no lids)
Soft playground ball
White paper, markers/pencils
• Bowling is a fun way for children to practice counting skills while also exposing them to addition and subtraction. At the same time, as children bowl, they build eye-hand coordination and gross motor skills. They must also demonstrate self-regulation.
• Set out the 10 plastic water bottles and soft playground ball. Introduce Bowling Math. First, have interested children count the number of water bottles you have.
This should be easy for them! Then, have them arrange the bottles into a triangle (like you would see when bowling at a bowling alley). As the children do this, encourage them to talk about a time when they went bowling. Some children may not have had this experience while other may have.
• Next, have the children take turns setting up the water bottles and rolling the ball. Once the ball knocks down some pins, have the children count the number that fell and the number that are still standing. Write this down as an addition fact. For instance, if 3 bottles fell and 7 are left standing, you would write 3 + 7 = 10. Once the children understand what you are doing, they can write down the facts themselves as they take turns setting up the pins and rolling the ball.
• Then, switch things up and use this experience to reinforce subtraction. Instead of an addition fact, write it as a subtraction fact (e.g., for the example above, you would write 10 - 3 = 7).
• EXTENSION: Have the children continue to play Bowling Math for several days. This will really help them learn what addition and subtraction mean.
Materials:
Addition & subtraction fact cards - To make, simply print addition and subtraction facts (without the sums) on index cards.
Sum cards - To prepare, print the sums that match the addition and subtraction fact cards on index cards.
Music
• Learning addition and subtraction facts does not need to be boring! This exciting game invites school-age children to practice matching addition and subtraction facts to sums in a fun way. In the process, the children will problem-solve while also demonstrating self-regulation skills.
• It’s time to play a game! To begin, have the children sit in a circle. Put the sum cards face up in the center.
Then, choose one of the addition or subtraction cards to give to a child. Turn on music and have the children pass the card around the circle. Randomly stop the music. The child holding the card must read the addition or subtraction fact and then find the matching sum card in the center of the circle. Once he/she does this correctly, put the sum card back and give another child a addition or subtraction fact to begin passing as soon as the music starts. Play the game in this fashion until you’ve used all the addition and subtraction fact cards.
• EXTENSION: Provide the children with index cards and crayons/markers. They can then make their own addition, subtraction and sum cards so they can play the game at home with their families.
Focus: Sets, Addition, Subtraction
Questions to Spur Thinking
• When do you use addition? Subtraction?
• How is 3 + 7 = 10 like 10 - 3 = 7?
• How could you use the water bottles and ball to play another game that uses math?
Send home this recipe so the children can make muffins at home.
