With winter break just around the corner, it’s a wonderful time to relax and cherish family traditions. At the same time, we want to make sure our kids don’t forget the math skills they’ve worked hard to learn. Even a short break can lead to a “winter fluency freeze,” where their math abilities start to slip away.

A little daily practice can make learning more fun and engaging, helping students feel confident and prepared for the second half of the school year. Here are some enjoyable, easy ways to sneak math and keep skills sharp all season long!

Make Math Jolly

1. Create a math-themed advent calendar!

This creates a bit of anticipation each day while helping kids stay engaged with math. Each challenge builds math confidence through play. Write daily mini-missions like:

• Practice XtraMath daily for 10 minutes.
• Find three circles and two squares in your house.
• Estimate how many snowflakes are on our wrapping paper.

2. Family Game Night -Math Edition

Family games make math practice natural and joyful, without feeling like schoolwork. Bring out the cards, dice, and laughter:

• Math Bingo: Builds confidence by matching facts to results.
• Math War: Strengthens fact fluency and recall by flipping two cards to add, subtract, or multiply.
• Math Island: An exciting adventure solving addition and subtraction problems to navigate a volcanic island.

3. Make the most of car rides.

Long car rides or trips are perfect for math games:

• Quiz kids on addition, subtraction, or times tables.
• Listen to math-themed songs on YouTube and sing them out loud with your kids.
• Turn rest stops into counting or estimation challenges.

4. Cooking and Baking Math.

Cooking combines fractions, problem-solving, and life skills in a tasty way! Invite kids into the kitchen:

• Double or halve cookie or holiday recipes.
• Measure ingredients using cups and spoons.
• Calculate cooking times for multiple dishes.

5. Math Game Time with XtraMath’s Awakening:

Awakening blends fact practice with adventure play, helping kids stay motivated while strengthening automaticity.

• Solve math challenges while exploring a magical adventure with your kid.
• Track progress and earn rewards together.

6. Holiday Shopping Math

Get kids involved in real-world math:

• Track spending to stay within a budget
  • If you set a $50 gift budget for your child’s friends, have your child write down the price of each gift and calculate the running total as you shop.
• Calculate discounts during holiday sales.
  • If an item is 25% off, ask your child to figure out the discounted price. Example: “This sweater is $40 and it’s 25% off. How much will it cost?”
• Compare prices and quantities to make smart choices.
  • Encourage kids to decide which deal gives the most value. Example: “This pack of 12 cookies is $6, and this pack of 20 is $10. Which is the better deal?”

7. Read Story-Based Math Books

Read math stories with your kids at bedtime or let them enjoy these kinds of books to foster a love for math. Also, these help reinforce memory while making learning fun.

Here are some suggestions:

• Bedtime Math: A Fun Excuse to Stay Up Late
• Spaghetti and Meatballs For All!
• Math Story Book - Adventures with Bobo the Panda

❤️ A Final Word

With a little creativity and consistency, winter break can be full of joy and learning. Keep math fun, keep it familiar, and keep it part of your family’s rhythm this winter. When students return in January, they’ll come back not only with holiday memories—but with stronger math fluency and confidence, too.

Happy Holidays from all of us at XtraMath!

Jackie Orcutt

PMM at Xtramath

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