Math Storytelling Day
It might not seem like the two together add up (ahem), but Math Storytelling Day can be a fun time, and educational (but don’t tell the kids that). On September 25, we are all encouraged to think of a story that can involve some form of maths. This helps to train our brains, come up with something fun and rewarding, and think of some fun games with the children.
What Is Math Storytelling Day?
The history behind the day is not as old as maths itself (you would have to go back to the ancient Sumerians 3000 BC and beyond to trace that), but rather a more recent 2009. It was created by a community called Natural Math. In response to a generic email about celebrating birthdays by marketer Seth Godin, Dr. Maria Droujkova thought it would be good to get others to think big and beyond themselves on their birthdays from now on. She took her own advice and thus declared that Math Storytelling Day should be celebrated on her birthday. This falls on September 25th.
The first person to respond was Sue VanHattum who incidentally celebrates her birthday on the same day. So, since 2009, they have encouraged others to tell maths stories wherever they can and make Maths fun on this day in particular.
Since most kids enjoy playing games, and maths isn’t always the easiest skill to grasp, the two combined is an excellent idea. Some kids learn better as part of a group so if this is your experience, why not see if the school is doing anything to mark the day, or can help with resources.
How To Observe Math Storytelling Day?
The simplest way to observe is to get involved. There are many ways to try Math Storytelling Day on for size. The easiest is by counting characters. This will be more suitable for younger children but adding a new character to the story will help them count to ten, and then twenty.
Otherwise, look for resources online as to how to develop stories using maths. Why not listen to other people’s math stories. The easiest way to find them is by searching for them online or using social media. This can mean following the hashtag #MathStorytellingDay for further inspiration. Other ideas include making posters and collages with maths-related characters and turn them into a story that can be read almost like a presentation.
Why no turn the story into an actual book? Simple drawings are all that is needed to make it fun for children. Some maths stories just involve solving puzzles to get to the next page, these can be fun for children to solve and will help to develop their maths skills.
Otherwise, the people at naturalmath have some useful resources on their website. These can help to make the day more special and memorable. There are even articles on how to come up with ideas as an educator.
