It’s a given that maths isn’t the most popular subject for many kids at school and can sometimes prove a little tricky. Let's take a look at 6 easy ways to encourage your child to progress in maths and all from the comfort of your own home.
1. Let them help you with the cooking and baking A really easy way to improve your child’s mathematics skills is by encouraging them to help you with cooking and baking. Get them involved in reading the instructions, following recipes, and weighing and measuring out ingredients. This will enable them to become familiar with quantities, fractions, temperatures and cooking units.
2. Get them involved in the food shopping Getting your kids involved in food shopping can not only make an ordinary activity fun but they can practice maths at the same time. Encourage them to read food labels, compare brands and prices, budget and find the best deals. This will help your child understand the value of money and learn to understand numbers and prices. Before you know it you might actually be enjoying the food shopping!
3. Play maths games with them at home Making maths fun is the key to improving maths skills and knowledge. There are loads of enjoyable games you can play with your children such as dominoes, chess, cards and memory games. Games like these will test their maths skills without them even realising it. It’s a win-win!
If your child uses technology on a regular basis then why not find some maths learning apps?
4. Read books that incorporate maths A super easy way to get kids to use maths at home is by encouraging them to read books that incorporate maths or logic. For a list of fantastic maths books ranging from addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, shapes and probability.
5. Encourage them to do some maths every day It’s important to encourage your child to do a little bit of maths every day, even if it’s only for 10 minutes. The more they practice, the better they will become. Simple! Quick activities such as problem-solving will really get your child thinking and using their mathematics knowledge.
Here are some simple problems that will really give your child’s maths skills a workout!
In the car, ask her how long it will take to travel to the destination based on your speed.
Whilst in your child’s favourite shop, ask them to calculate the price of a discounted item they want and how long it will take to save up their pocket money to buy it.
Alternatively, Sudoku puzzles and math puzzle books can be a challenging but fun way to practice maths during the weekends and holidays.
6. Familiarise yourself with what your child is currently learning It’s important to understand what area of maths your child is currently learning. Chatting to their teachers and checking their homework diaries is key. As soon as you know what your child is currently learning, it will be easier to adapt maths activities at home.
Here are some links to fun videos from our YouTube channel which will be perfect for kickstarting that maths learning right from home!