Most parents find the task of boosting their child’s maths skills taxing because lets face it we all know how tough it is to get your child to study let alone, solve an arithmetic problem. Although it seems to be an impossible task requiring a lot of effort, it is not so. All that is required is the practical use of or exposure to mathematical calculations and terminology to help your child grasp mathematical operations. In a nut shell, make it a fun activity because children learn best while they are still young and if they enjoy it.
If you are looking for things that you can do to make learning maths fun then you have come to the right place. Here are a few fun activities that you can do on a daily bases whilst you spend quality time with your child or integrate spending quality time with children while you go about doing your daily chores. So here are some fun ways to help your child become a master in Maths.
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Develop a Positive Attitude: much of your child’s success depends upon the attitude you bring to mathematics as children are like sponges they absorb whatever you show them. So as a parent you too need to have a positive attitude to the subject as a whole.
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Support and Encourage your Child: similarly the support factor does have a bearing on your child’s performance. As a parent you need to support your child continuously and encourage them as much as you think they require.
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Play Cards and Board Games with your child: playing simple games like “Go fish” and “Crazy 8′s” can help children to learn the value of numbers. Advanced games like “Monopoly” and “Cribbage” are perfect for mental maths motivational tools. Even a simple game of Dominoes can help children to understand numbers well.
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Count Change with your child: count rupees and paise along with your child but in increments of 5 and 10. For older children play “cashier” with them and ask them to count back the change.
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Play Number Guessing Games: for instance, I am thinking of a number between 1 and 100. It is more than 50. It is an even number. It is the product of 8 times 9. Activities like these make memorizing multiplication tables more fun and interesting thus it ensures that the tables are learnt.
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Cook and Read Recipes with your Child: baking chocolate chip cookies with your child is a fun way to help children practice their fractions by using measuring cups and spoons. For older children you can teach fraction equivalency; for example, How many fourths does it take to make one – half?,
You can also ask your child to read out the recipe
You can divide the recipe in half or double it and ask your child to help you figure out the correct measurements and proportions
You can talk about how many cups in a pint, how many pints in a quart
You can have your child set the table and use multiplication to figure out how many utensils will be on the table. For instance if each of the four people at the table have a knife, fork and spoon, how many utensils are on the table?
Similarly if you put 7 dinner rolls on the table and each person has one, how many will be left over? (4 x 3 = 12)
Ask you child to calculate the number of spoons, forks and knives that are placed on the table
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Take your Child Shopping and Point Out Sales Whenever Percentages are Used: you can explain to your child how to calculate the price of something marked 50% or 10% off.
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Use Newspapers to Find Graphs and Statistics: you can use these graphs and statistics to discuss how to read and interpret them. Apart from these aspects you can even point out the various kinds such as line graph, pie chart, bar chart, histogram, etc. and highlight how they are different from eachother.
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Have your child assist you in crafts such as wood working or sewing: parents can use various measuring tools such as a measuring tape, rulers etc. to show their child how to properly measure an item to the nearst inch. You can have older children find the area and parameter of an object.
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Fill a Jar with Jelly Beans and Have Your Child Estimate the Amount Present: once you have filled the jar with the jelly beans then you can ask them to give an estimate. Then you can remove 10 and again ask them to give an approximate figure. When you count the actual figure, show your child how to count in increments of 2.
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Pretend to Shop: you can pretend to shop with an advertisement for example a toy ad. You can give your child 50 “Pretend Rupees” and ask them to pick out the things they want to buy and figure out how much they will have left. Or you can even take a few items at home and follow the same procedure.
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Use a Dice to do Mental Addition and to Explain Probability: you can ask your child, “ Am I more likely to roll a 7 or a 12?”. if you are looking for challeng then it is preferable that you use more than 2 dice. You can also list out all the possible combuinations on a piece of paper.
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Repetition: parents should cross question their children at regular intervals on the various topics discussed. This will act as a revision and will help their children to memorise the concepts better. Remember the more you repeat the topics discussed the better your child will remember the concepts, the more interesting arithmetics will become and the stronger your childs basics will become.
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Send your Child to Buy Groceries for Real: you can give a certain amount to your child and ask them to buy the items on the list and then check if they have got the right amount of change back. This is very effective in improving and speeding up the mathematical calculations of the child.
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Use Flash cards: you can use flash cards that have the vocabulary word for instance oblique line segment, commutative property, Venn Diagram and multiplication etc. on one side and a solved problem of the principle on the other side. This will explain the principle better after it has been introduced to the child.
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Expose your Child to Math Vocabulary in Print: when a new principle or vocabulary word is taught or learnt it is preferable to write it down on a chalk board or you can even draw a picture for the new vocabulary word. This will reinforce the learning of the concept and will be better remembered and understood.
Once your child has mastered the basic concepts at a young age studying complex subjects like Algebra and Geometry will not be a struggle. Therefore it is essential for parents to strengthen these basic concepts while it is taught afresh. To end with a positive note I leave you with a simple thought, “ The essence of Mathematics is not to make simple things complicated, but to make complicated things simple” – S. Gudder.