Maths and the Moon

Today was one of those days that just seemed to flow effortlessly. It began with a hurried attempt at making a pin hole viewer to watch the partial solar eclipse at 8am.  Luckily I had an empty waffle cone box lying around.

Even without a fancy telescope it was fantastic to watch the moon's movements across the sun. Moomintroll soaked it all up and wrote about the experience in her journal tonight.

Later in the morning I placed a few games that we haven't played for nearly a year on the outside table. It was like christmas! The girls threw themselves into the Stile Tiles, tangrams and alphabet blocks. Eventually their games led to an intense session of Fishing Maths.

How to play Fishing Maths: cut out some funny fish shapes, write numbers on them, tape on metal washer thingies found in the garage and go fishing with a magnetic fishing rod.   Moomintroll added and subtracted the numbers on her fish using a number line.  The Snork Maiden multiplied hers.

 I was really surprised at how much they enjoyed this impromptu game. The Snork Maiden really took to her sums, and asked for bigger and bigger numbers to multiply.   Moomintroll is finally enjoying maths too. Thanks go to Khan Academy for introducing concepts to her in a way that appeals to her learning style. She especially likes the bits with avocadoes.

Stile Tiles are always good fun.