6 Kids Math Crafts to Celebrate Black History Month, Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day
February is full of opportunities to talk about diversity and history with holidays like Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day and President's Day, all of which happen during Black History Month. Not only that, but with a bit of creativity and craftiness, these important dates can be prime time for weaving in some math in your child's life.
Try out a few of these crafts that align with February celebrations and themes.
Black History Month
February is Black History Month, a time to celebrate the achievements of Black Americans and their central role in U.S. history. This month is also an excellent time to remember that children need to see themselves and diverse people celebrated in books and media throughout the entire year. PBS KIDS for Parents has a great book list featuring strong Black main characters.
Painting Circles
Make beautiful art in the style of Alma Woodsey Thomas (1891-1978), a Black artist famous for her abstract paintings that resemble colorful arranged tiles. She started her career as an art teacher and shifted her focus to her own art after she retired from teaching. Her collection lead up to her first art exhibit at the age of 75! You can learn how to capture the colors and unique style of Alma Woodsey Thomas at home with paint by drawing concentric circles of small colorful squares or by doing the same thing but with paper tiles. While you work, talk about how many shapes can be combined to make a new shape, make patterns with shapes and colors and arrange items while talking about where they are in relation to others using location and position words like next to, behind, above, etc. (also called spatial sense).
Let's Be Architects
Designed by David Adjaye with Philip Freelon as the architect, the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., is a magnificent structure. Freelon also designed artful museums, cultural centers and civic buildings across the nation. You can use materials around the house to try building a structure just as eye-catching as the museum! Build structures using newspaper to make designs with interesting shapes and angles. Alternatively, build a futuristic skyscraper using blocks or cardboard boxes wrapped in foil. You can even try your hand at building your version of the National Museum of African American History and Culture by constructing three flattened pyramids turned upside down.
Building structures is a great activity for incorporating spatial vocabulary that describes where one object is in relation to another (such as above, behind, next to, to the left of), an object's structure (such as curvy or tall), or how things move (such as up, down, out). After creating your structure of choice, take pictures from different angles with your phone and compare the photos as an opportunity for richer spatial sense talk!
If you're not in the mood to create buildings, you can practice spatial vocabulary and develop your child's spatial sense by building shiny robots and spaceships decorated with aluminum foil. Remember to always talk about where your building materials are in relation to each other, so you flex those spatial sense muscles!
As you think about how to celebrate Black Americans and address race and social justice at home with your little ones, check out these resources and activities.
- Sesame Workshop's Coming Together: Talking to Children about Race, Ethnicity, and Culture
- Seven Ways to Honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Legacy with Children
- Four Social Skills That Can Teach Children About Equity Based on MLK's Ideals
- Three Revolutionary Black Women to Celebrate This International Women's Day
- How a Preschool Founder Fosters Anti-Racism
- How to Talk to Your Kids About Anti-Racism: A List of Resources
- Seven Ways to Honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Legacy with Children
Lunar New Year
Kick off February by celebrating or introducing your family to Lunar New Year! The multi-day holiday falls on Feb. 1, 2022, and follows the moon's phases. It also marks the transition between zodiac signs. Did you know that 2022 is the Year of the Tiger? Lunar New Year Celebrations are intended to say goodbye to the old year and bring luck and prosperity into the new one.
Bolang Gu Drum Craft
The Bolang Gu is a traditional Chinese musical instrument used during celebrations and as a children's toy. It is sometimes called a pellet drum or drum rattle. The Bolang Gu is a double-headed drum that makes a repetitive drumming sound as two pellets strike the drum when the base is shaken quickly between the hands. You can make your own Bolang Gu with paper plates, a popsicle stick, glue, string or yarn and beads.
- To make the drum, start by laying one paper plate face up. Use glue to attach a popsicle stick to the edge. The stick will be the drum's handle.
- Apply glue around the rim of the paper plate. Next, attach the second plate on top of the first to face each other.
- Once the glue has dried, use markers or colored pencils to decorate the two sides of the paper plates.
- Punch two holes along the glued plates' rims, one on each side and around halfway up. Make sure the holes go through both plates!
- Cut two pieces of string approximately 6 inches long. String beads onto the two pieces of string, then help your child thread the string through the holes and tie a knot. Shake the drum back and forth to make noise.
Music is a fantastic tool for talking about math. Use the drum to make a musical pattern. Count the beats using a repeating pattern of numbers like "1, 2, 1, 2" or "1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3." You can also use the movement of this unique drum to talk about spatial relationships. Talk with your child about the movement of the pellets or beads when the drum shakes. Do they go to the left or right? Can you shake the drum so they go in different directions?
Inspired by the Cincinnati Art Museum's lesson plan Bolang Gu a Handmade Pellet Drum to Celebrate the Chinese New Year and She Knows' 3 Crafty Chinese New Year projects kids can do themselves.
Red Envelope Counting Activity
In China, red symbolizes energy, happiness and good luck. One way people in China wish each other good luck in the New Year is with red envelopes containing money called "ya sui qian" or "lucky money." Grandparents and parents give red envelopes with money to their children and grandchildren. Younger people can also give red envelopes to their elders. Usually, paper bills are inserted into the red envelopes. However, you should use washed coins or delicious chocolate ones for this activity.
For your red envelopes, decorate envelopes from around your home or purchase Lunar New Year red envelopes from a craft store. Fill the envelopes with clean coins or chocolate coins. Coins can be helpful objects to help learn number sense and counting (or how many of something there is). They are also great tools for addition! Use different amounts for each envelope for the following math exploration.
- First, have your child open one of the envelopes and count the coins.
- Next, ask your child to select a second envelope and count the number of coins in it.
- Ask your child to find the new total number of coins in both envelopes. To find the total, beginning counters can place the coins on a number mat to find the total number. Use this Lunar New Year-themed printable counting mat from A Little Pinch of Perfect. More advanced counters can write a number sentence for the coins (like 6+3=9)!
- Repeat with different combinations of coins!
Inspired by A Little Pinch of Perfect's Chinese New Year Red Envelope Math Activity and Free Printable for Kids.
Valentine's Day
In the United States, we celebrate Valentine's Day with notes, gifts and time spent with loved ones. But Valentine's Day is celebrated worldwide with rich and varied traditions! In Finland and Estonia, people celebrate Friend's Day on Feb. 14. In South Africa, women literally "wear their hearts on their sleeves" on the same date, pinning the names of their love interests on their shirtsleeves. Talk about these varied traditions with your child as you work together to make a heart mobile to celebrate love and friendship.
Valentine's Day Heart Mobile
A mobile is a great way to discuss spatial relationships while hanging shapes in different orientations. All you need to make this mobile is paper, string or yarn and tape.
- Create the hearts for your mobile using paper or pipe cleaners. Make all of them of different sizes and colors for a creative, fun look! To make paper hearts, fold a piece of paper in half. Cut out half a heart shape against the crease of the paper. To make a unique heart "frame." cut out more heart shapes inside the first one.
- Lay a long piece of string on a flat surface. Place hearts along the string at different heights and use tape to fasten them to the string. Remember to use spatial terms in deciding where the hearts will hang using terms like above, below, in front of, next to, etc. Tip: Place smaller hearts inside the larger heart frames!
- Repeat for four pieces of string. Then, attach the tops of the strings to a stick or a clothes hanger and hang to display your beautiful heart mobile!
Presidents' Day
Presidents' Day is celebrated every year on the third Monday of February, the month of George Washington's and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays, and honors all U.S. presidents. Several presidents' faces are also featured on everyday objects that are key to math learning: coins! Coins are not only great objects for introducing the theme of Presidents to young children, but they are also helpful tools for little ones to practice early math themes like sets, sorting and making comparisons.
Coin Sorting
To practice sorting and collecting, kids need to learn about attributes, which are the qualities or features of an item. They can also be used to describe and sort coins. Ask your child if they can tell the differences in appearance, texture, weight, size, shininess and color in several different coins. You can even use glass bowls and listen to see if the coins "sound" different as they fall into the bowl.
- Before you get started, wash the coins.
- Place a bowl with all the coins in the middle of the sorting area.
- Then, put four bowls around the center bowl for your child to sort the coins into.
- Demonstrate for your child how to sort the coins by dropping one of each coin into the different bowls. Try ordering the coin piles in order of size, weight, shininess or another attribute!
Inspired by Rhythms of Play's Coin Sorting: Montessori-Inspired Sensorial Activity.
