When I was a teenager, my mom implemented a dinnertime routine to keep the family engaged at the dinner table. I thought the goal was to get us prepared for college and spelling bees and such, but I later was told that it was to keep us involved and at the table! At any rate, each night was a different individual’s turn to pick a word out of the dictionary, which the others would attempt to spell and define.

What does this have to do with math? Well, it’s primarily about engagement at the table and developing simple activities that can be used in a set location such as the dinner table or the family vehicle. However, I have a math-y twist for you. Try working with the number of the day.

I use this as my daily warmup now with a different name, and I got the math idea from a presenter. I have put my own twist on it to help my students work on everything from math facts to seeing structure in expressions. I build my request around the number for the day. One week, I may ask students for addition problems that have the date as their value. Another, I may ask for any expressions. Still other days, I might request fractions or decimals. In my algebra classes, I’ve started using the date as a coefficient for a variable and asked for equivalent expressions. I’ve also used the date to create equations for students to solve.

How do you, as a parent, implement this? It is as simple as asking your youngster for something that equals today’s date. If you are terrified of math, as many parents claim to be, you can keep it simple. If you love math, you can dive into more complex options. You can adapt to the levels of different children. You might only expect addition or subtraction options from your little ones. Your older children, middle and high school level, might use square roots and absolute values.

Discuss, display, digest! You can discuss things you notice about a child’s response. “I notice that you subtracted or added 0.” You can use household items such as coins, game pieces, or other objects to verify. Have your child write their expressions. Put them on the fridge. If you are really daring, make your fridge your dry erase board! As you and the kiddos discuss and display, you can all digest the intrigue of numbers together!