You don’t need a math textbook to help your kids study their math skills at home. If you have a newspaper or magazine, then you have access to a variety of math activities reinforcing all sorts of skills right at your fingertips. Here's a fun counting game you can do with your child.

Number Search

To teach your young elementary school children to identify numbers, have them read through a newspaper and circle or highlight any number they see between 1 and 100. Have your child say the numbers aloud as he or she finds them. Then, make a list of all the numbers that you’ve found together on a page, and order them from smallest to largest.

This is also a great intro to having your children engage with age-appropriate current events.

Counting Book

You and your child can make your own counting book using numbers and pictures found in a newspaper. Have your child cut out pictures from a newspaper and then compile a picture book. For example, for page one of your book, your child will need to find a picture from the newspaper with just one thing in it. Page two of your book should have a picture from the newspaper with two similar things in it, and so on.

At the bottom of each page of the book, have your child write the number of items in the picture and the name of the items. Once the book is complete, have your child read the book to you and other friends and family.

Sorting and Organizing: Scavenger Hunt

For this activity, you and your child will need a newspaper/magazine, a pair of scissors, paper, and glue. Search the pictures for examples of cylinders, cubes, and other geometric shapes. Cut out pictures and glue them on a piece of paper to make a book of geometric shapes. Group the like shapes together and have your child write the name of the shape at the bottom of each page.