Have you heard about Crazy 8s? It’s the new nationwide after-school club designed to get kids fired up about math. Kids get to build stuff, run and jump, make music, make a mess… and make friendships at the same time.
Crazy 8s is the latest offering from Bedtime Math Foundation, a nonprofit organization that has become a leader in the area of childhood math content. By providing fun, wacky math problems for parents to do with their kids every day, Bedtime Math helps children achieve in math which is important for success later in life, especially in STEM careers. Whether it’s flamingos, ninjas or pillow forts, kids can see the math in their favorite topics. Parents can sign up for the nightly email, download the free app, or read one of their best-selling children’s books. More than 70,000 loyal fans have joined the movement.
A new research study published in Science showed that kids who used the Bedtime Math app at home as little as once a week for one school year gained three months more of math skills than those who didn’t. Even more notably, kids of the most math-anxious parents who chose to use the app had gains of half a year – again, within just one school year. Bedtime Math was featured on All Things Considered in early October, and again on Science Friday.
Crazy 8s is like no other math club before. Unlike the competitive, test-oriented clubs out there, Crazy 8s has an energy and playfulness that can appeal to any kid – not just those who already love math. Activities like Toilet Paper Olympics and Bouncy Dice Explosion show kids that math is approachable, tangible and fun.
How does it work? Bedtime Math provides a free kit containing full directions and most of the materials needed to run the 8 week club. Each kit is designed for 10-20 kids in grades K-2 and 3-5. The afterschool program finds a coach and Bedtime Math sends the kit – it’s that simple. So far, the response has been overwhelming. Since it first launched in April 2014, there are more than 5,000 clubs serving over 60,000 kids nationwide.
Visit www.bedtimemath.org to learn more about Bedtime Math and Crazy 8s.
Read New York Times article about Bedtime Math
About Laura Overdeck and Sandy LoPiccolo:
As Founder of Bedtime Math, Laura has a keen interest in advancing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education. When not writing the daily math problem or field-testing the latest Crazy 8s projectiles, she serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees for Liberty Science Center, and also serves on the advisory boards for Johns Hopkins’ Center for Talented Youth (CTY), The Governor’s School of New Jersey, and The Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. Laura holds a B.A. in astrophysics from Princeton and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business.
As Director of Communications, Sandy can relate – and she does, by leading Bedtime Math’s public relations efforts. She fields the wild array of inquiries we get, and also creates many of our marketing materials. Previously she worked as a producer for CBS News’ Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood, collecting several Emmy Award nominations along the way. Sandy holds a B.A. in history from Hamilton College.
Dr. Koshi Dhingra has dedicated her career to STEM education and is passionate about having every child live up to their potential. Seeing a lack of girls and other underrepresented youth in STEM programs, she founded talkSTEM in 2015 to address the imbalance. She has a doctorate in science education from Teachers College, Columbia University, has years of experience teaching in graduate and undergraduate programs, and has held leadership roles in universities. She advises and collaborates with a broad range of educational institutions globally. Dr. Dhingra began her career teaching science in middle and high school in New York. She lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, three children, and two dogs.
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