Downloads, Education, Kids

Engage sporty kids in math!

Now that every­one is back into the rou­tine of work and school, we can take stock of things that might help us and our kids. One thing that we have been think­ing about is engag­ing our kids in sub­jects that have a “dull” rep­u­ta­tion — like math.

Accord­ing to a 2018 Stam­ford Uni­ver­si­ty study, a pos­i­tive atti­tude toward math will result in bet­ter achieve­ments in math class­es in chil­dren. This is not a big sur­prise. “Hav­ing a pos­i­tive atti­tude acts direct­ly on your mem­o­ry and learn­ing sys­tem,” the lead author, Lang Chen, PhD, said about the findings.

How to get positive

Of course, the next ques­tion is: how do you cul­ti­vate that pos­i­tive atti­tude? This, I’m sure, depends on the child in question.

Suc­cess in math requires log­ic, orga­ni­za­tion and pre­ci­sion. Also, there exists a more sub­tle and qual­i­ta­tive aspect to math­e­mat­ics. For instance: do the num­bers have asso­ci­a­tions, emo­tions, or per­son­al­i­ties? These asso­ci­a­tions will aid in memory. 

Sports as a memory aid

My son is a big sports fan and has a very good mem­o­ry for sports. Speak­ing to him about this, we real­ized there are some num­bers he knows very well: Ath­letes’ jer­sey num­bers. The num­ber 99 belongs to one man: Wayne Gret­zky. It is also 9 x 11. 

And so, for sporty kids, we devel­oped a down­load­able mul­ti­pli­ca­tion table using the jer­sey num­bers of hock­ey play­ers. We’re going to offer it free here on the site for a cou­ple of months for now. We hope teach­ers and par­ents will find this help­ful for young sports fans. 

Asso­ci­at­ing play­ers with math facts may pro­duce that pos­i­tive atti­tude kids need. Per­haps “Orr times Coffie equals Giroux” is a first step for young math stu­dents to get to “4 x 7 = 28.”

Askey Studio Jersey Multiplication Table poster.
Print­ed and framed Jer­sey Num­ber Mul­ti­pli­ca­tion Table.

Thanks to Cade Askey for his ideas and research on this project. Check out his hock­ey card blog!


So far, two sizes are avail­able in the down­loads sec­tion: an over-size poster 36 x 24 inch­es, and a tabloid-size 11 x 17 inch­es. Let us know what you think!

hockey jersey multiplication table close-up
Jer­sey Num­ber Mul­ti­pli­ca­tion Table Close-up,