Here are some examples of "math moments" that families have enjoyed. Feel free to use them at home...or come up with your own! David wants to hear about your family's math moments. Your child can be featured in one of David's columns and you can win a free signed hardcover book! Click here for details.

Averages, percentages, measurements and statistics of all kinds come alive for participants and spectators in sporting events. Scott keeps track of his shooting average and his free throw percentage. In the heat of the game, he constantly figures and refigures how many points his team is ahead – or how many they need to catch up.
The recipe called for 6-inch tortillas, but Rebekah's mom bought 10-inch by mistake. How many 10- inch tortillas should she use? Rebekah figured it out with the math she had learned in school! The entire recipe would be contained in just two of the large quesedillas. The difference in area between the two sizes of tortilla shells was a surprise – as calculations involving area often are.
Proud of their size, David picked the beans and found many to be well over six inches long and 3/4-inch wide. They dwarfed store-bought varieties in length, width, weight and volume. Gardening provides math moments from planning and planting (consider spacing, depth of seeds, area available, etc.), through harvesting. Size increases can be monitored, geometric patterns observed, quantities measured.
Icicles come in all sizes, as Miya discovered outside her garage. She decided to sort them by size. Sorting and grouping are important early math activities that set the stage for measuring, computation and algebraic thinking.
Food preparation offers a myriad of math moments with edible results. At 3, Charles cannot yet measure the ingredients for a cake, but he watches Mom intently as she narrates her actions and draws him in with questions.