Parents and kindergarten teachers often use interesting math assignments. For preschoolers, this is considered the norm, while school textbooks offer long series of monotonous examples and complex tasks. That is why most students find mathematics a boring subject. To maintain motivation, teachers are recommended to include elements of entertainment in their usual lessons. This allows you to interest children, encourage them to be active in the classroom and reduce fatigue.
Lesson-games
There is not enough entertaining material in school textbooks. However, an experienced teacher knows how to make the usual tasks in mathematics interesting. In grade 1, this is especially important, as children respond better to the game form of learning. They are bored with solving examples, but everything changes if the teacher brings the ball to the lesson and asks the correct answer from the one who caught it.
Upgradethe activity of children allows the game plot present in the lesson. There may be many options. For example, for each completed task, the children receive a piece of the puzzle, and at the end of the lesson, a picture is assembled from them. Or the class goes to save a hero in trouble. Along the way, they meet various villains and defeat them by solving puzzles and examples. Children really like competitions when the class is divided into teams and each team collects tokens for work. Winners can be awarded with paper medals. Thus, it is not always necessary to look for entertaining material. Sometimes it is enough to change the form of its submission.
Game tricks
You don't have to come up with a fairy story for every activity. Schoolchildren should also get used to serious work. However, tension inevitably builds up during the lesson. To help him reset, various game techniques are called upon, which do not take much time. Here are examples of similar interesting tasks in mathematics:
- "Blind score". Ask first graders to close their eyes and raise their hands. The teacher dictates examples (the account is kept within the first ten). Children show the answer on their fingers. Older children can be called to the board and asked blindfolded to perform any action with two double-digit numbers in a column.
- "Accurate arrows". Examples are written on the board, and to the right of them are the correct answers in no particular order. The children copy it in their notebooks. Then arrows connect the examples with the correct answers.
- "Relay". Examples are written on the board in three columns. Children sitting in one row are built in a column. The one standing first runs to the board and solves the first example, then returns to the team and passes the chalk to the next player. When determining the winner, the correctness of the answers and the time spent are taken into account.
Funny problems
The tasks discussed above are considered entertaining in their form. In addition to them, there are exercises that are interesting in their content. A striking example is the tasks of G. Oster, which differ from others in the humorous presentation of the material. Here are some interesting math assignments for grade 1 from his book:
- Mom bought some cacti. Three-year-old Masha shaved half of them with her father's razor. 12 cacti remained prickly. How many shaved plants does mom have? (12)
- Ryaba the hen laid an egg, but the mouse broke it. Then the good Ryaba laid three more eggs, but the mouse broke them too. The hen pulled herself up and gave five eggs. The shameless mouse shattered them all. How many eggs would a grandfather and a woman have been able to cook their own scrambled eggs from if they had not spoiled the mouse? (9).
- Serezha had 12 big hams and 7 small ones. When they explained to him what it was, he threw everything away and jumped away. How many chryamziks did Seryozha throw? (19).
Logic problems
It is very useful to give children non-standard tasks that teach them to reason, and not to answer thoughtlessly. By solving such problems, students develop mindfulness, ingenuity and flexibility.thinking. Here are some examples of interesting math assignments that can be used in elementary grades:
- There were 40 crows on the tree. The hunter fired his gun and killed 6 birds. How many crows are left in the tree? (None, the surviving birds have flown away.)
- How many ends does 32 and a half sticks have? (66).
- The shepherd led the geese. One goose went ahead of three, another urged on three birds and two geese ran in the middle. How many geese were there? (4).
- A team of three horses ran 60 km. How far did each horse run? (60 km.)
- Which is heavier - a kilogram of down or a kilogram of lead? (They weigh the same).
- It takes an airplane 1 hour 20 minutes to fly from point A to point B. The return journey takes 80 minutes. How can it be? (These are the same time as 60 minutes + 20 minutes=80 minutes)
- Dad sawing firewood. It can cut a log in half in 1 minute. How long does it take him to cut a log into 8 pieces? (7 minutes as it will take 7 cuts).
- Mom bought a box of chocolates for her daughters: Katya and Lena. Each box contained 15 sweets. During the day, Katya ate a few pieces, and left the rest for tomorrow. Lena ate as many sweets as her sister had left, and put the others aside. How many sweets did mom count in the evening in both boxes? (Katya has 15-a=b candies left. So Lena ate b candies. Since in this equation a+b=15, and there were 30 candies in total, mom counted 15 candies in two boxes.)
Tasks with fairy-tale characters
First graders are yesterday's preschoolers. They love it when a magical hero is introduced in class. For example, Dunno, who made mistakes in the solved examples. Problems with fabulous content are also appropriate in grade 1. Interesting tasks in mathematics can be compiled independently, focusing on the examples below:
- The gray wolf dined on his birthday with seven kids, three piglets and one Little Red Riding Hood. How many animals does he have in his stomach? (10).
- In Little Red Riding Hood's basket are pies with jam, cabbage and meat. Most of all pies with jam, and less with cabbage than with meat. How many pies are in the basket if there are exactly three of them with jam? (6).
- Baba Yaga had 17 animals in her hut, 2 of them were talking cats, and the rest were mice. Grandmother gave 8 mice to Koshchei the Immortal. How many rodents are left in the hut? (7).
- Carlson ate 19 chocolates, and 4 less candied nuts. How many candied nuts did Carlson eat? (15).
Problems in verse
Children's attention is attracted by everything unusual. They solve rhymed tasks with great pleasure, perceiving such an activity as a fun game. Below is an example of an interesting math assignment for grade 2, with which you can remember the multiplication table. The words in brackets must be spoken by the guys themselves:
Once one (one).
There lived a beloved son with his father.
Twice four (eight), When it cameautumn, Three times two (six), Someone has become eating apples in the garden.
Four times three (twelve).
Son went to meet the thief.
Five five (twenty five).
Suddenly the firebird flew into the garden.
Nine-five (forty-five).
The bird began to peck apples.
Four times eight (thirty-two).
The fellow could not stand theft.
Seven seven (forty nine).
Yes, how to grab the firebird in anger!
Seven nine (sixty-three).
The bird prays: "Let me go".
Six four (twenty four).
"You will be the happiest person in the world."
Seven four (twenty-eight).
Well done threw a bird into the sky.
Three times ten (thirty).
And she suddenly became a girl.
Seven five (thirty five).
Beauty - what can I say in a fairy tale!
Three times nine (twenty-seven).
This wedding was remembered by everyone.
Five one (five).
And their daughter could fly.
Cognitive tasks
The older the children, the more serious the selected material. Students of grades 3-4 are capable of not only solving problems, but also broadening their horizons at the same time. Interesting tasks in mathematics can be related to topics studied in the lessons of history or the world around. Here are examples of such tasks:
- Russian Emperor Peter I slept daily from 9 pm to 2 am, and at other times he was busy with business. How many hours was his working day? (19).
- Emperor Alexander IIreduced the term of service in the army by 19 years. Under him, the soldiers defended their homeland for 72 months. How many years did a Russian soldier serve before that? (age 25).
- The big comet Galileo appears near the Earth every 76 years. The last time this happened was in 1986. When will the comet fly again? (In 2062).
- The earth is inhabited by 2 million 500 thousand different species of animals. Of these, 4/5 of the part is occupied by insects. How many types of insects live on our planet? (2 million)
Examples with unusual structure
Children's attention is drawn to tasks that do not fit into the usual pattern. The usual examples, in which you need to find out the result from known components and actions, quickly become boring. Another thing is if you need to place actions and brackets between numbers to get the specified result. Here are a few of these math questions. In grade 4, children can handle them quite well, and for younger students, examples can be simplified:
8 8 8 8=0 Answer: (8+8)-(8+8)=0.
8 8 8 8=1 Answer: (8+8):(8+8)=1.
8 8 8 8=3 Answer: (8+8+8):8=3.
8 8 8 8=7 Answer: (8×8-8):8=7.
8 8 8 8=8 Answer: (8-8)×8+8=8.
8 8 8 8=9 Answer: (8×8+8):8=9.
8 8 8 8=10 Answer: (8+8):8+8=10.
8 8 8 8=16 Answer: 8×(8+8):8=16.
8 8 8 8=48 Answer: 8×8-(8+8)=48.
8 8 8 8=56 Answer: (8-8:8)×8=56.
Math puzzles
It's boring to solve equations. It is another matter if we call the same example a riddle orrebus. Here are some examples of interesting tasks in mathematics. In grade 3, unknowns can be denoted by letters of the Latin alphabet or asterisks. In grades 1-2, children like pictures of toys, fruits, or other real objects more. We will consider the option for older kids:
- CN + NC=33. Find the value of C and N. (In this case, one of the characters is one, and the other is two).
- FFD + FDF + DFF=444. What are F and D? (F=1, D=2).
- Replace the stars with the numbers you need: 19 + 43=4225. (Answer: 1792+2433=4225).
- Restore the example by putting numbers instead of letters: AA1 × AAA + AAA00=11211. (A=1).
Games for future ransomware
Another interesting math task can be to solve coded words. In this case, each letter has its own number. To solve the cipher, children must solve a series of examples. Below are two such tasks.
Guess the fairy-tale character:
| Numbers | 72 | 18 | 40 | 27 | 49 | 64 | 49 | 81 | 36 | 56 |
| Letters |
M=9×3, O=7×7, V=8×8, Yu=6×3, Y=5×8, A=8×7, K=6×6, D=9 ×8, H=9×9. (Thumbelina).
He's fat in January, but every day he gets thinner and thinner
| Numbers | 60 | 45 | 4 | 85 | 72 | 20 | 45 | 11 | 23 |
| Letters |
E=34+51, R=74-63, A=57-12, b=38-15, D=4×5, L=24:6, H=46+14. (Calendar).
Math tricks
To attract the attention of schoolchildren, you need to surprise them. Especially for this purpose, you can use interesting tasks in mathematics with answers known in advance. Better to call them "foci". Children think of arbitrary numbers, carry out a series of operations with them. And then the teacher guesses the correct answer, common to all those present. Everyone will surely want to understand the secret of such a "trick". Here are some similar tasks:
- Children must think of any number from 1 to 9 and multiply it by 2. Then the resulting number is multiplied by 5. 7 is added to the result, then the tens digit is discarded. 3 is added to the remaining number, 8 is subtracted, multiplied by 4. And the teacher calls the answer common to all students: 8.
- Have the children take three digits, except for zero, and use them to make all possible three-digit numbers. Then you need to find out the sum of these numbers. The numbers taken are also added together. The sum of all three-digit numbers is divisible by the sum of the three digits. The teacher "guesses" the answer: 222.
Interesting math assignments make the subject more attractive to primary school children. In addition, they make schoolchildren think outside the box, move away from patterns. This develops curiosity and creative thinking.
