Real Life Math Activities to Captivate Learners

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Have your students ever asked you the age-old question, “When will I ever even use this in real life?” Even if they aren’t saying it, chances are they are thinking it! Students know that math skills relate to real life, such as money, but practicing real life math situations makes meaningful connections that deepen students’ understanding of the skill.

real life math activities for 2nd grade

Why Use Context for Real Life Math Activities?

  • makes real life connections
  • shows/ emphasizes the importance of math skills
  • allows you to make lessons high interest/ engaging
  • applies skills outside of the curriculum

There are so many different ways to incorporate real life math examples into your lessons. A word problem can be a relatable situation fo the students. Instead of having them add miles an airplane flies, try having them add points scored in their favorite game or sport. You know your students and how to appeal to their interests to USE THAT!!

How to Create Real Life Math Examples

Simple

This can look like connecting math topics to everyday routines or common objects.

For example:

  • find an object shaped like a triangle at home
  • how many minutes until lunch

Imaginative

These examples bring more play and situational exploration to the activity.

For example:

  • students play restaurant, add up the total cost of the bill
  • plan a trip using a budget
  • make a floor plan of a house, finding the dimensions of each room
  • figure out football statistics – read more about how I use sports with math

Holidays

It is my personal favorite to incorporate real life math into holiday themed activities! I find it is the perfect way to acknowledge the holiday and do something fun/ different without stopping the learning for a day.

  • look at a recipe for a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dinner
  • graph the types of candy from Valentine’s exchange
  • figure out ending times in baking Halloween treats (more pictures of this resource are in the image below)

This is my Halloween Witch’s Bakery project which includes real life math applications of fun Halloween themed activities with 2nd grade math skills. Click here to see the resource in my store!

Math Books for Real Life Connections

I love using picture books about or related to real life math concepts to deepen understanding too! Read more about the books that I use in my classroom here.