Math Holiday Activities

Keeping your kids entertained during the holidays doesn’t have to be a challenge. Although many of us are having to forego our regular holiday activities this year, you can still create some great math memories. Let’s dive in to five family-friendly holiday math activities that will keep your kid’s brains engaged in between cups of hot cocoa and Christmas cookies. Who knows? Some or all of these activities may become part of your regular holiday traditions!

1) Math Snowflakes

What's winter without snow? When it’s too cold outside to play in the actual snow, you can still create your own math winter wonderland inside by crafting math snowflakes for a fun lesson on geometric shapes.  

To make your math snowflakes, you'll need just two items:

• Tissue paper cut into squares
• Scissors.

1. To start, fold your tissue paper squares in an upward motion in half to make a triangle shape. 
2. Fold the triangle into thirds. Cut patterns into the sides of your triangle and unfold the paper to reveal your unique snowflake.

Not only is this a lesson on shapes but you can also challenge your child to calculate how many sides their snowflake will be before unfolding the paper by solving the following equation. The answers will change depending on how many folds are in your snowflake.  

“X” can represent the paper when folded in half and “Y” can represent the paper folded into thirds. Multiplying the folds will determine how many sides your snowflake will have.

Ex.  S = X* Y = 6

S = 2*3 = 6

2) Analyze Snowflakes

If you’d prefer to see real snowflakes, the next time the weather forecast calls for snow, this is a great activity to see the mathematical beauty of a snowflake up close and personal. All you need is a microscope and microscope slides.

The night before it snows, put the slides in the freezer overnight. When it begins to snow the following day, remove the microscope slides and spray one side with hairspray. Head outside and catch your snowflake on the microscope slide. The hairspray will allow the snowflake to stick.

Once you catch the snowflake, leave the slide in a cold place away from the snow for two hours. The water will evaporate but the print of the snowflake will stay on the slide.

Now when you look at your slide under the microscope you can observe the beautiful shapes! 

3) Create Homemade Christmas Ornaments

Combine the joy of cooking with math for this fun activity making cinnamon dough ornaments.

Caution: Although made of dough, these ornaments are not meant to be edible.

To make these ornaments you will need to measure out the following kitchen staples:

• 1 cup of flour
• ½ cup of salt
• ½ cup of cinnamon
• ¾ cup of very warm water

1. Simply combine all the dry ingredients together forming a well in the center. Add the warm water and stir together until a dough consistency forms. Allow the dough to rest for a few moments before adding any more flour, if needed.
2.  Roll out your dough and cut out your ornament’s shapes, paying special attention to the uniqueness of each shape. Use a straw to make a hole at the top of each ornament shape. Put your ornaments on a tray and allow them to sit overnight for at least 24 hours. If you’re feeling festive, you can paint your ornaments your favorite Christmas color!

4) Gift-Wrapping

As the saying goes, it’s better to give than to receive. However, all this gift giving requires wrapping tons of gifts, which may be a daunting task whether you’re a novice or advanced. Math can help make this task more efficient and fun for the whole family.  A mathematician by the name of Sara Santos came up with a more efficient way for wrapping your box and rectangle-shaped gifts without having to use tons of paper and wrapping supplies by wrapping them diagonally.  Check out her video here and related activity here to test out her formula.

5) The 12 Days of Christmas Price Index

Created by PNC Bank, this is a yearly financial review based on the “12 Days of Christmas” holiday song. With price indexes dating back to 1984, this is a perfect introduction to financial math and stocks for older children, as this activity examines the cost of each item referenced in the song.  For example, for 2020, the cost of "a partridge in a pear tree" is $210.18. Luckily, there is no change in price from 2019. However, the cost of two turtle doves, $450, is a 50% increase from the previous year! Using the provided price percentage information from the site, you can test your child to calculate what the previous year price was for various items.

These holiday math activities should keep you and your crew busy while bringing in the holidays

and ringing in the new year. For more ways to keep your child excited about math during the holidays, reach out to us at Mathnasium for a specialized math program for your child in grades 2-12.

We wish you and your family a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!

Mathnasium of Littleton

(303) 979-9077