Percent Math Games and Learning Activities

How to Help Your Child Calculate Percentages

Students in sixth grade are introduced to proportions and percentages within a real-world context. However, to master these concepts your child should first have an adequate knowledge of decimals and fractions, because he or she will likely convert decimals or fractions into percentages.

In particular, your child should understand that percentages, decimals and fractions are equivalent. For instance, 67% is the same as 67/100, which is the same as 0.67. Consider using the activities below to help your child at home. Feel free to make adjustments to fit your child's ability level.

What I Do in a Day

Ask your child to keep track of what he does throughout the day and how much time is spent on each task. For example, he may record the number of hours he spends at school, watching television and doing chores. Have your child represent each activity with a fraction, using 24 as the denominator and the number of hours spent as the numerator. Using division, have your child change each fraction to a percent.

For instance, if he spent three hours doing homework, then the fraction would be 3/24. Divide three by 24 to calculate the decimal (3 ÷ 24 = 0.125). Finally, to find the percent, multiple the decimal by 100 like this: 0.125 x 100 = 12.5%.

Show Me the Percent

Before beginning this activity, use graph paper to create sheets that are 10 squares wide by 10 squares long. Have your child model various percentages by shading squares on the graph paper. For 50%, your child would shade in 50 of the 100 total squares.

What's the Percentage?

Ask your child to list the first names of family members, including extended family. Have your child create fractions based on the beginning letter of family members' names. For example, if four of the ten family members' names begin with the letter 'M', the fraction would be 4/10. Have your child change the fraction to a percentage. For this example, 4/10 = 0.40 x 100 = 40%. One way you can alter this activity would be to have your child create fractions based on family characteristics.