5th Grade Activities
Looking for games and activities to support your fifth grader in school? This year is all about giving her the skills to make middle school a breeze. From science activities for curious kids to math games that make fractions fun, we've got great ideas to keep learning going outside of the classroom.
Explore Circumference with Your Bicycle Wheel
By late elementary school, students are exploring the many ways that geometry translates to real-world situations. Here's a hands-on activity that helps your child understand the concept of "circumference."
Make a Progress Portfolio
To help your child turn a critical eye to his own school performance, and motivate him to take responsibility for tackling his academic challenges, make a progress portfolio!
Practice Ratios with Wastepaper Basketball
If your child is in the decimal doldrums, or suffering from acute fear of fractions, take heart. They're probably just struggling to understand how numbers on a page can relate to the "real world" outside the classroom.
Find the Gist: A Textbook Study Strategy
Here's an activity to help your child manage their nonfiction reading by focusing on the most important elements.
Use Coupon Math for Cash!
Here's a simple, fun activity which will save you time and reinforce your child's math skills along the way. Plus, it will give your child an opportunity to experience practical application of the math he's learning in the classroom.
Make a Hummingbird Feeder
With a clear dishwashing-liquid bottle and a few plastic straws, you can easily make a hummingbird feeder and demonstrate the effects of atmospheric pressure at the same time!
Keep a Horizon Calendar
Many ancient cultures used the rising or setting sun to create calendars. Observe the setting sun once a week for as long as you can to come up with your own calendar.
Adding Colors: An Optical Experiment
What happens when colored beams of light mix? You might be surprised.
Cuckoo for Crazy Quilts
Crazy quilting is a fun and easy way for kids to exercise some creativity and connect with the past.
The Incredible Flexible Egg Experiment
In this experiment, a hard-boiled egg will fit through an impossibly small opening with the help of only a few matches. Your child will be amazed, and you'll be teaching her how seemly impossible acts are any but - with the help of a little science!
