Basketball and Skip Counting (Mathematical Mondays)

If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is.  

-John Louis von Neumann

Our math explorations and games are really rarely, if ever, formal or planned.

One thing we have been doing lately is using basketball as a means of playing with skip counting and quick, simple addition. Counting by twos, threes, and then a mix of both has been a neat little practice for verbalizing answers to little arithmetic problems.

With his basketball game in the garage, I will hear him shouting, "Fourteen! Sixteen! Eighteen!" as his score on the board goes up, or, when we're in a three-point contest, likewise. We will also go out to the basketball court behind our house, adding up our points as a mix between twos and threes. "What's five plus three?", "Eight plus two?", "Ten plus three?", etc.

He really loves this little habit, as it came about spontaneously and with something he loves (basketball) making for a perfect match. Normally, he doesn't like being drilled. He will, however, gladly shout out any answer with this.

"At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes."

Matthew 11:25

Hunter is 5 years, 1 month old