Using M & Ms and Oranges for Maths

by Felicity
(Sydney, Australia)

It's a while ago now but I recall using an orange to explain the basics of fractions to my sons.

I simply got an orange and we talked about how it was one, whole orange. Then I cut it into halves and showed them how two halves made one orange. Then I cut it into quarters and we talked about that.

My sons would have been about four or five at the time and found it easy to understand the concept when it was presented in such a concrete way.

I also used M & Ms to talk about addition, subtraction and - later - even multiplication. I simply tipped them all out onto the table and then set aside three to work with. 'Here are three M & Ms. What happens if I give one to Oliver? Now we have two left' and so on.

The kids loved it and they got the idea pretty quickly.

The thing to remember with these sorts of activities is not to labour the point. Spend five or ten minutes with it and then leave it.

The strategy works for older kids too, of course. For example, you can go on to cut the orange into eighths and sixteenths, etc.

And the M & Ms can be used for older kids having trouble with division and multiplication. For example, two piles of three M & Ms makes a total of six M & Ms.

Anyway, it worked for us. My three kids have always enjoyed maths and done well at it.