Math Tips Celebrating New LeapFrog Math DVD

On February 23rd, 2010, Lionsgate Home Entertainment is releasing a new LeapFrog Math DVD called “LeapFrog Math Adventure to the Moon.”  You’ll enjoy watching Tad and Lily as they blast off on an exciting educational adventure.  Together, they need the perfect collection of things to take to school for their math assignment.  They decide on moon rocks, but there’s one problem – they don’t know how they will get them!  However, with some magical help from their firefly friend Edison, they board a rocket ship to start their quest.  Soon they learn that math is everywhere, even in outer space!  Watch as they use skills in counting, sorting, skip counting, and recognizing patterns to overcome obstacles.  Plus, they’ll find new friends and make the trip back to Earth!

SYNOPSIS

Join Tad and Lily as they blast off on an exciting educational adventure! Tad and Lily need the perfect collection of things to take to school for their math assignment. When they finally decide on moon rocks, there’s just one problem—how will they get them? With some magical help from their firefly friend Edison, they board a rocket ship to start their quest. Soon the twins learn that math is everywhere, even in outer space! Watch as they use their skills in counting, sorting, skip counting and recognizing patterns to overcome obstacles, find new friends and make the trip back to Earth!

TIP #1:  Math is everywhere! 

Next time you’re in a waiting room with your child, scan the room (or the magazines on the tables) for evidence of “math.”  Advise your child to find as much math as possible, and you can give clues if you need to.  Numbers, patterns, shapes, categories, and measuring devices (e.g., ruler, scales), are just a few examples of some of the math you might see all around you! 

TIP #2:  Patterns and Codes are All Around Us! 

Make patterns using standard household objects.  For example line up repeated objects–sock, stuffed animal, sock, stuffed animal, and so on.   Next, ask your child to continue the pattern to figure out the “secret code.”  You can vary the difficulty of the pattern to suit your child’s ability–banana, banana, pear, banana, banana, pear.  You can also make deliberate errors that your child needs to find–pear, apple, bananna, pear, apple, banana, pear, pear, banana.

TIP #3:  Play the Sorting Game! 

Take a deck of cards, and discuss with your child all the ways you can sort the cards.  They can be sorted by color (red versus black), suit (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs), numbers (2’s, 3’s, etc.), royalty versus numbers (jacks, queens, and kings versus the numbers), odd versus even numbers, etc.  Sky is the limit!  You can play the sorting game with many collections of things around the house, such as socks and building  blocks. 

I received no compensation for writing this post.