It’s football season! We love football in our family and enjoy playing and watching the game. Walk into our living room on any given Sunday and you’re sure to see a game on. We have season tickets to our home team and usually take the kids to one or two games a season. Every time we do, they have a blast!
Over the years, we’ve learned a few tips on how to make the best of attending a football game with children. One thing we learned, my daughter was more interested in the cheerleaders than the game or any of the other festivities. She much rather watch the game from home than sitting three plus hours outside.
As for my boys, they love it! They also love to tailgate before the game. Since my husband and I also love to tailgate, we now have a family tradition of doing a family friendly tailgate when we bring the kids along. We make finger foods, have activities for them planned and also try to coordinate having our friends with kids bring their children to the same game.
Since kids have short attention spans, it is a good idea to have a plan in place to keep their interest going throughout the game. One easy diversion that I have done is to incorporate some math fun into the game.
Here are three simple ways to incorporate math fun with football fun for elementary age kids!
1) Strengthen basic addition and problem solving skills by having children determine the number of points needed to beat the other team’s score. Ask questions like, “how many touchdowns to beat 14 points?” Or, “will the field goal give us a tie?”
2) Practice subtraction by counting down the number of yards needed to get a first and ten. The penalties also help with subtracting yardage too.
3) Counting by sevens and introduction to multiplication is great with football. For example, “how many touchdowns will give us 14 points?” is a great problem for second and third graders at the game!
Do your kids like attending football games? How do you keep them busy?
