Your Therapy Source Magazine for Pediatric Therapists September 2016 | Page 6

MOVEMENT ACTIVITIES AND MATH SKILLS
The school year will be
starting shortly for many
of us. Start the school
year off with fun,
purposeful activities that
combine movement with
math skills. Not only
will children benefit
from the physical
activity, moving while
learning can help with
memory skills, attention
and focus. Here are
three fun math activities
that can be modified as
needed to include many
different math skills.
Purpose: Practice sensory motor skills while reinforcing math concepts. This is a great in
class energy release.
Materials: math flash cards, dice
Activity #1 – Flash Card Fun for a Group: Have the group sit or stand in a circle. Create
one rule for the group to start. For example, if the answer is correct everyone should clap hands
and if the answer is incorrect everyone should jump in place. Pick a student to go first. Hold up a
flash card. Student responds verbally with the answer to the math problem. The rest of the group
must now act. Each student must begin to perform with clapping hands or jumping in
place depending upon whether the answer is correct or incorrect. The leader then reports the
correct answer. Continue playing creating new rules with new movements every 10 flash cards.
Activity #2 – Circle Math: Have the group stand in a large circle with a clear path behind
the entire circle. Make sure there is ample distance between each student. The leader
stands stationary out the outside of the circle. The group walks in a circle, one student behind
the other. When a student arrives at the leader, the group stops walking, the students reads
aloud the problem and answers it. If the answer is correct, the group continues to walk forward.
If the answer is incorrect, the group walks backward in the circle. The next student now arrives
at the leader and answers flash card problem. Continue playing until all flash cards have
been answered.
Activity #3: Dice Jumping: This activity is for simple math problems. Again, have the
group standing in a circle with area clear. One student goes in the middle of the circle. The
student rolls the dice and adds them up and shouts out the answer. The students in the circle join
hands with the student in the middle. All the children jump in place the number of times of the
sum of the dice. Continue playing until all students have had a turn rolling the dice.
For more activity ideas check out Get Up and Learn! – How to Integrate Movement with
Learning e-book.

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