Tuesday 15 October 2013

10 easy ways to make your child have fun while learning math


Author: Gabhan Reed
Explore math in everyday life — when kids realize that math is all around them, they begin to relax and see its importance in their lives. 
1. Daily Home Activities – Target counting and number skills with daily home chores. Ask them to count out forks to set the table, pour from a gallon of milk, equally divide the pizza slices with family members (basic fractions), etc.
2. Driving in Car – You can target basic arithmetic skills on the road. When driving with kids, talk about speed of safe driving, the distance traveled, the mileage the car gets per gallon of gas, and how long it will take to get home.
3. Cooking – Cooking is one of the most math-oriented tasks we do every day. You can hone their measurement of weights and volumes, and time skills with cooking. You can let your children help by asking them to measure exact quantities of the ingredients like- measure three-quarters of a cup of water, 2 cans of cherries. You can also let them be the timekeeper for cooking and making the answer questions like- how much time we should boil and many more.
4. Money - Expose your child to money in her early school years. Have them collect coins in a piggy bank, count them out regularly or when you go to the store, ask your children to determine how much change you will get in quarters and notes. This introduces the basics of numbers children with the help of money.
5. Carpentry with dad – Estimation and measurement of length can be targeted here. House repair work, building new furniture at home gives better idea of measurement. For e.g. 3 feet long wood is required for window. Boys always love this.
6. Outdoor sports games – Rules and scoring of the games like basketball, baseball helps kids understand numbers while they are involved in enjoying the sport.
7. Posters - Post a chart of math facts in your child's room. Make the posters fun. Times tables can be your target for this activity.
8. Time - Have your child use a watch to tell time. Ask them on spot time, difference between two times and give rewards to motivate them to get it right.
9. Games - From flash cards for learning basic math facts to board games. Games are always the best ways to kids getting involved with numbers from childhood.
10. Online - fun math practice web programs can also reinforce math skills, from arithmetic to algebra. Their interactive interfaces make it easy and fun for kids to practice the math skills learned in school.
About the Author
Gabhan Reed has been an educator for more than 10 years, and enjoys writing on topics related to parenting and early childhood education . Academically, he holds a MA (psychology) combined with PG diploma in Business Management.

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