TAMPA, Fla. — It's less than a month now before kids go back to school, but there's still a few weeks of summer fun left to enjoy.
There are some sneaky ways to get your kids to sharpen their math skills while still having fun. Doing a bunch of math problems over summer break does not sound like fun, but throw in a little sidewalk chalk, sunshine, a few friends, and math can feel like a party!
"Today, I did the math scotch and other days my friends and I might do odd things like make shapes and stuff, " said 10-year-old Faith Kanaiya.
Kanaiya loves being outside and playing with friends in the summer, but her mom, Hiral Kanaiya, wanted to keep learning. That's how she found a free program from the Art of Problem Solving Online Academy.
"They give really fun math puzzles every week. And all these math puzzles, you can actually draw it, you can actually solve it with your friends and then sometimes her friends come over and solve half of it."
Ashley Beck is with AoPS Academy said the program was created to help prevent the summer learning slide.
"To really help students keep learning over the summer, to get outside, to get away from screens when possible and just to share. We think that chalk art is this great way to share challenging math problems because we think math is truly beautiful so why not add that artistic element to it as well," Beck said.
So, Faith still gets the best of both worlds, having fun in the sun and learning some new skills.
"I know I'm learning stuff, but it doesn't feel like I'm learning. Because learning is boring and this is fun."
Faith's mom says it's great when her friends come over and take part because they show each other different ways to solve the problems.
It's easy to get your kids involved in the Mathwalk challenge. Just get some sidewalk chalk, then click here for the free puzzles and problems.