Fun Real-Life Math Activity – Teaches Kids The Cost Of Pet Ownership
Most parents will agree, children don’t have a clue about how much it costs to own a pet…much less multiple pets! The yearly dollar amount can be in the hundreds or even thousands when you consider food, grooming, and veterinarian bills. Pet Math Budget Challenge is a fun way to engage children with real-life math application related to something they love….PETS!
FREE printable Budget Challenge includes:
- origami game cubes
- score sheets (with 3 different starting budgets)
- Barky Pet Supply price sheet pamphlet
Disclosure: This post was written by a member of the Trigger Memory team – founders of Times Tales, Pet Math and the Kids Chore Chart.
CLICK to Download Printables!
Instructions:
To start the Pet Math Budget Challenge, each player will start with a Beginning Balance located on the top of the game sheet ranging from $150 – $200. This will be the budgeted amount to spend on pet items. First, a player will choose one of the two cubes and roll. Based upon what is rolled, they will either subtract or add that dollar amount to the beginning balance. The costs of items can be found in the Barky’s Pet Supply Store pamphlet. The object of the challenge is to get through all six rolls (adding and subtracting based upon amounts rolled) and still have some money left at the end!
You can turn the Budget Challenge into a game by adding another player. Each player starts with the same beginning balance game sheet. After the six rolls (with either cube), the player with the most money left at the ends wins the game!
Real-Life Math Skills Your Kids Will Learn From The Pet Math Budget Challenge
- How to look up costs and prices
- The costs of pet products
- How to add and subtract from a ledger
Through this activity kids can sharpen their math skills and learn about budgeting at the same time. They will also learn that with pet ownership comes variables of costs that are often times not expected, such as vet bills.
Did Your Child Like The Budget Challenge? They Will LOVE The Pet Math Workbook!
The Pet Math Workbook (Grades 3-5) not only includes this fun, hands-on budgeting game (printable above), but also over 50 pages of real-life math lessons revolving around the costs of pet ownership. This fun, real-life application workbook teaches children critical thinking skills through online shopping comparison lessons. Application of coupons and budgeting are taught through activities for the student to determine best prices and apply discounts. As the students work through each lesson, they not only learn applicable math skills, but also the responsibilities of pet ownership such as: feeding, veterinarian care, waste cleanup, and exercise. Each lesson is different and covers a wide variety of math application for the mid-elementary student who is ready to apply math to real-life scenarios. The last part of the workbook includes two bonus, fun activities, the Pet Math Budget Challenge and Pet Math Comics.
- Money Computation
- Multiplication & Division
- Graphs & Charts
- Area & Perimeter
- Story Problems
- Budgeting
- Shopping Online
- Check Writing
- Data Analysis
This is a great way to reinforce math skills into something that is relevant to a child’s world. Fun and engaging lessons offer students real-life math applications with different scenarios that can come with owning a pet.
Pet Math Workbook Includes Three Fictional Pet-Related Business Pamphlets
These fun, colorful pamphlets are incorporated throughout the lessons for the student to research and calculate the costs of various pet-related activities such as buying pet food, grooming and veterinarian bills.
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