The best part about Spring finally arriving here is the sunshine. Lots and lots of sunshine. So one morning, the boys and I started exploring making numbers in the natural light that came streaming into our living room. Of course, when you have a child with hypernumeracy, things evolve quickly into making math questions. After all, he spends a good portion of his day (probably 90%) saying, "I have a math question for you." So it is no surprise that this natural light collaborative math activity would be a hit with my kids.
But what I particularly love about this math activity for kids is that it encourages social skills like collaboration and teamwork. In order to build a math equation that's easy to read in the sunlight, you need at least two sets of hands to hold up the numbers. So the kids and I had to work together to build the equations.
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Collaborative Math Activity for Kids Using Natural Light
For this activity, you'll need:
- Minimum of two people
- Sunny spot with lots of natural light
- Learning Resources Letter Construction Activity Set - There's a number set as well, but the letter ones work perfectly fine!
Then encourage them to hold it up into the sunlight without their body getting in the way. This part took a bit of getting used to and I had to give the kids frequent reminders to adjust their bodies so that their numbers could be seen.
This activity can be done individually, but, as you can see, things get a bit squishy and it's hard to tell exactly what the math question is. So it's best to do it as a collaborative project!
This math activity was engaging on so many levels. It worked on math skills, fine motor skills, social skills such as teamwork, and more. Here's a video to show you how engaging it was! I was multitasking by filming and holding up a plus sign so things got a bit shaky at spots...but you get the idea!
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