Did you know that April is Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month? Well, as we gear up to celebrate, today on the blog, I have a handful of Math Month activities for you to explore. You can use these throughout the month of April or revisit the list at any time of the year.
As you can see in the list below, I’ve kept these pretty general so you can customize them for your group of students. If you’re familiar with chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, you know that they are great for strengthening your ideas. So you can take the ideas below, paste them into your favorite chatbot, and say something like, “Customize this for my [grade] students who are working on [objective].”
Math Month Activities
Let’s take a look at these Math Month activities!
Math Scavenger Hunt
Hide clues around the classroom or schoolyard that lead to math problems. Students solve the problems and follow the clues to discover a hidden math-themed prize! If you love QR codes like I do, you might also want to incorporate them into a scavenger hunt. Check out this post for ways to use QR Codes.
Estimation Station
An estimation game is fun at any age and a great low-stakes activity to kick off Math Month. You can fill a jar with small objects (candy, paperclips, etc.) and have students guess the number. Then, they can practice counting and comparing quantities.
Estimation Challenges
Take your estimation activity a bit further and try “Fermi Questions.” These are open-ended problems requiring reasonable estimations, such as “How many piano tuners are in Chicago?” Students justify their logic and reasoning through discussions with partners, in small groups, or with the whole class.
Math Story Time
Choose picture books that focus on counting, shapes, or mathematical concepts. Share stories and then follow up with related math activities. A few examples:
- How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten?
- The Girl With a Mind For Math: The Story of Raye Montague
- Lia & Luis: Who Has More?: Who Has More?
- A Mathematician Like Me
Budgeting Project
Have students design a realistic budget for an endeavor, like a trip they would like to take to a faraway place. Students can explore needs vs. wants, discuss smart spending, and even set up spreadsheets someone could use for their budgeting.
Pattern Play
Introduce different patterns using blocks, beads, or colored tiles. Challenge students to extend the patterns or create their own. They can use emojis to make patterns, too. This website makes it easy to copy and paste emojis into any space students are working.
Symmetry Art
Explore symmetry by having students fold paper, cut out shapes, and unfold to reveal symmetrical designs. They can also use mirrors to investigate symmetry in nature and objects. Encourage students to snap a picture and record their voice talking about their observations using a tool like Flip or Seesaw.
Shape Adventure
Go on a shape adventure as a class! Identify shapes in the classroom, school, playground, or neighborhood. Students can snap pictures of the shapes they find and add them to an interactive math journal. They can use Google Slides or a tool like Book Creator.
Stock Market Simulation
Use April as a good time to start a Stock Market Simulation. For this Math Month activity, students track and analyze stocks over time. Depending on the level of the group you’re working with, you might include topics like returns, investment strategies, and economic events. Students can certainly use a tool like Google Sheets to track their progress.
The Mathematics of Art
Students can study perspective, geometric shapes, and more mathematical concepts in famous artworks. Head to a space like Google Arts & Culture to look for pieces of artwork or explore the digital collection of a favorite museum for inspiration.
Math-Themed Research
Let students choose a mathematical concept or figure in history to research. They can create a multimedia presentation to share with the class. Alternatively, they can choose a medium like a podcast to capture their learning and share with a wider audience.
Musical Math
There is math all around us, including in our favorite tunes. You can explore rhythms and fractions with students as they clap rhythms, identify patterns in song lyrics, or experiment with creating their own music using measurement and time intervals. You might introduce music-making tools like Garageband or Soundtrap to your group.
Sports Stats
Adding to our list of Math Month activities is an opportunity for students to collect and analyze sports statistics. You might give students a data set or ask them to pick their favorite sport. For example, they could look at batting averages, points scored in a basketball game, speed in a skating event, or more.
Trying out Math Month Activities
The activities on this list are truly just a starting point. Feel free to be creative, and don’t hesitate to use a chatbot for a bit of help refining your ideas. Math Month is an exciting opportunity to transform your class’s perception of math and ignite a passion for lifelong learning.
You can use these activities any time of year, but if you’re gearing up for April, this list will set you up for success. Share your favorite Math Month activities with me, too! Send pictures or updates to me directly on your favorite social media app like Instagram or Twitter/X. Or you can also reply to one of my Monday newsletters – just enter your information in the box below.
