Estimating
Use these estimating activities to reinforce your child's real-world math skills.
By: Trish Kuffner, author of The Children's Busy Book
Estimating
Estimating is an important everyday skill. And when a child estimates the answer to a math problem, he understands the problem better and solves it more easily. Use the following activities to help your child practice estimating.
Directions
- Fill a small jar with small treats. Challenge your child to estimate how many items are in the jar. If you like, have a weekly contest with the winner receiving the contents of the jar. Compare how many pieces of various treats fit in the same jar.
- Estimate things like how many times the refrigerator door is opened in a day, how many windows your house has, or how many cans of food are in your cupboards.
- Ask your child questions like If I had two dimes, three nickels, and four pennies in my pocket, about how much money would I have? or If I buy three bottles of juice for ninety-eight cents each, about how much money will they cost me altogether?
- Estimate things like which book you own is the heaviest, how long a line of ten paper clips is, or the difference in height between people in your household.