The concept of fractional parts can be confusing to most children. They scratch their heads, saying, “what are fractional parts?” and soon lose interest in the topic. And that’s why it is important to introduce the concept of fractional parts using fun activities so that the kids can understand it better.
Here are a few great activities to help your kids find the fractional part of a quantity:
1. Newspaper Activity
This is a fun activity that can be used to teach children the concept of fractional parts of a quantity.
Take a bundle of newspapers, grab a portable speaker, and you’re all set to start the activity. Tell your children to dance on the newspaper without touching the feet outside the newspaper. They have to dance when the music starts and stop when the music stops. Before you resume the music, fold the newspaper in half. The challenge here is to not touch your feet outside the newspaper. Explain that they are standing on one-half (½) of the newspaper.
Fold the newspaper in half every time the music stops. Do this till the children have to stand on one-eighth (⅛) of the newspaper.
This is a super interesting activity to introduce the concept of fractional parts. To help them find the fractional parts of a quantity, measure the length of one of the sides of the newspaper and tell them to calculate the length of the same side each time you fold it in half. So if the length of one of the sides measures 24cm, then the length becomes 12cm when you fold it in half. Therefore, it is clear that ½ of 24 is 12. To make the activity even more interesting, tell your children to measure the length using a scale to check whether the answer is right.
Now each time to fold the paper, tell them to find the fractional part of the length of the selected side of the newspaper (¼ of 24 is 6, ⅛ of 24 is 3, etc).
2. Grouping Up
This is a fun game for children that will help them lay a strong base for understanding the concept of fractional parts. It is best to play this game in a room where you’ll have to assign 5 spaces for numbers from 1 to 5. Hand out cards with simple “finding fractional part” problems. Ask the children to solve it and run to the space with the number same as their answer.
Let’s take ½ of 10 as an example. The child who got the card with this problem has to solve it and find out the answer first (½ of 10 = 5). He then has to run to the space in the room assigned number 5. There may be other children too who have got the same answer. Therefore, at the end of the activity, all the children who got the same answer will be together. They can discuss their questions and clear their doubts.
3. Grouping The Cards
This is similar to the previous activity and is a good option if you want the kids to solve fraction problems individually. Hand out many cards with a lot of fraction problems and tell the children to keep the cards with the same answer together. If the answers range from 1 to 5, you can keep 5 jars on the table and ask the child to keep the cards with the same answer in one jar. He can count the number of cards in each jar at the end. You can also revisit addition and subtraction lessons in fun ways!
4. Fun With Crafts
Children are always excited when it comes to crafts. These are simple, fun, and exciting. Here’s a great activity to teach the concept of fractional parts. It is so simple that you’ll need just paper plates and a few colors.
Provide paper plates to the kids and ask them to turn it into a pizza using color pens. Make sure that there are many flower petals that fall on a line of symmetry. If the petals are of different shapes, the children may have a hard time understanding the concept of fractional parts.
Once the paper plate is divided into different sections, representing different pizza pieces, ask the children to count the number of slices or sections. Now ask them to show you with their hand a fractional part of the pizza. For instance, if there are 8 pizza slices in total, you can ask them to point to ⅛ of the pizza or ¼ of the pizza.
You can also modify their response, such as coloring or cutting out the fractional part. This is an excellent activity to introduce the concept of fractional parts. Don’t forget to reinforce correct answers! You can print the pizza party printable to reinforce the concept for your child.
5. Fun With Dice
Playing with a dice is always exciting; you never know which number it is going to land on! To teach the concept of fractional parts using dice, draw or print many small circles, each divided into six equal sections. Ask your child to roll the dice and note down the outcome or the number on top. Consider the number as the denominator with 1 as the numerator. Ask the child to color the corresponding fractional part of a circle.
For example, if the dice roll is a 5, the child has to color ⅕ of the circle. Practice this activity with a few circles and the child will get an idea about fractional parts and how it works. This is an interesting activity for children, especially when played in groups.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are fractional parts?
The fractional part of a non-negative real number corresponds to the digits appearing after the number’s integer part.
How do you find the fractional part?
To find the fractional part, simply multiply the numerators and then divide the product by the denominator. Another way to find the fractional part is to divide the whole number by the denominator and multiply the quotient with the numerator.
What is a number with no fractional parts called?
A number with no fractional part is called an integer. It can be positive, negative, or zero.
