Life With Boys: Math Lessons With Monopoly

The boys and I had a lazy day on Sunday. We stayed in our pajamas until noon, at snacks in the living room and played Monopoly. Little did the boys know, they were getting a math lesson too!

It was actually Capt. M’s idea to play Monopoly. We have played before but only short versions of the game. Capr. M and I got so into this game that we ended up playing for 5 hours total! Mr. B played too, although he became bored after about two hours. We did break the game playing up into two sessions with a lunch break, clothes change, a little outdoors time and then back at it.

Math Lessons

Counting: Mr. B is four years old. He counted the dots on the dice and the spaces he needed to move. For Capt. M who is almost six years old, I helped him count money.
Addition/ Subtraction: When Capt. M wanted to buy something or when he needed to pay a fee, we would talk about the math equation. For example, I landed on his property and needed to pay him $24. I handed him $25. We talked about how he would figure out how much change to give me.
Money: Of course Monopoly is all about money! I think having the different bills in the game helps the kids understand value. Capt. M had a huge stack of $1 bills and a few $100 bills. At first he thought the $1 were more important because there was more of them. He then learned that it was not necessarily the quantity of bills that was important, it was hoe much they are worth. It’s kind of like the dime versus penny concept. Just because the penny is bigger, doesn’t mean that it is more valuable.
Banking: It is the first glimpse into the banking process. Capt. M went from broke to a tycoon and back to broke! It’s a very simple example of paying bills, earning money and borrowing money.

If you haven’t played Monopoly with your kids yet, give it a try! It’s great that we can have fun while learning too. Plus the kids don’t even have to know that they are learning!

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Renae Chiovaro

Renae is a married working mom of two handsome boys. She works as a registered dental hygienist by day and blogs here at How to Have it All by night. She enjoys cooking from scratch, working in her vegetable garden and functional training.