Math is very important for all kids to succeed in future. Proficiency in the basic arithmetic of whole numbers and fractions is expected throughout a child's academic career and early experiences can make all the difference. But how do you engage your child's natural curiosity and apply it to the study of math?
Standard drills using pencil and paper do have their place, providing repetition that is necessary to master a skill, but they are not likely to spark your child's interest. Much more effective in this regard are hands-on activities that require mathematical thinking. Listed below are six ways that you can help your child develop early math skills.
How Child will learn math Skill?
· Be positive about math
· Let your child know that everyone can learn math.
· Let your child know that you think math is important and fun.
· Point out the ways in which different family members use math in their jobs.
· Be positive about your own math abilities. Try to avoid saying "I was never good at math" or "I never liked math".
· Encourage your child to be persistent if a problem seems difficult.
· Praise your child when he or she makes an effort, and share in the excitement when he or she solves a problem or understands something for the first time.
· Make math part of your child's day.
· Point out to your child the many ways in which math is used in everyday activities.
· Encourage your child to tell or show you how he or she uses math in everyday life.
· Include your child in everyday activities that involve math – making purchases, measuring ingredients, counting out plates and utensils for dinner.
· Play games and do puzzles with your child that involve math.
· They may focus on direction or time, logic and reasoning, sorting, or estimating.
· Do math problems with your child for fun.
· In addition to math tools, such as a ruler and a calculator, use handy household objects, such as a measuring cup and containers of various shapes and sizes, when doing math with your child.
· Encourage your child to give explanations.
· When your child is trying to solve a problem, ask what he or she is thinking. If your child seems puzzled, ask him or her to tell you what doesn't make sense. (Talking about their ideas and how they reach solutions helps children learn to reason mathematically.)
· Suggest that your child act out a problem to solve it. Have your child show how he or she reached a conclusion by drawing pictures and moving objects as well as by using words.
· Treat errors as opportunities to help your child learn something new.
Here are some New and hands-on tricks to Cultivate Early Math Skills in kids
1. Use of Base Ten Blocks for counting
Base Ten Blocks can be purchased or made at home with wood or Styrofoam. A set consists of single cubes for counting by ones, sticks of 10 cubes for counting by tens, flats of 100 cubes for counting by hundreds and large blocks of 1,000 cubes for counting by thousands.
2. Use of Change for understanding money value
First make sure that your child understands the value of each of the coins--pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. After giving your child an adequate number of each type of coin, give her an amount that she must come up with using the coins she has been given. For example, if you give a value of 40 cents, she could use four dimes as a solution to the problem. As her skill increases, add new challenges. For example, how many different ways can you make 40 cents? Can you come up with 38 cents using only nickels, dimes and quarters? Why or why not?
3. Use labeled objects for Teaching Rearrangements
For this exercise, you need three identical objects that can be labeled A, B and C. Start by having your child order the objects from left to right, i.e., ABC. Then let him see how many different ways he can rearrange the objects. For example, swapping the first and last object gives the new configuration CBA. Give your child some crayons and paper to record the different configurations. After she has found them all--there are six--see if you and your child can develop an orderly way to come up with the different configurations. For an extra challenge, try four objects labeled A, B, C and D (there are 24 different configurations).
4. Try M&M's for Quotient and Remainder
You need a handful of M&M's (or Cheerios for a healthier version). Give your child a number of M&M's, and have her divide them into groups of a smaller number. For example, if you give her 26 M&M's and ask her to divide them into even groups of three, she should have eight groups of three with two M&M's left over. The number of groups (eight) is called the quotient and the number of remaining M&M's that cannot be put into a group is called the remainder (two). You can provide a little incentive by letting your child eat the remainders if she solves the problem within a certain time limit.
5. Use remainder to learn Even and Odd groups
Ask your child to divide a number of M&M's into groups of two. Now there are only two possible values for the remainder. Either there are none left over and the remainder is zero, or there is one left over and the remainder is one. (Why can't two be left over?) When we divide a number by two and get a remainder of zero we say the number is even. When we get a remainder of one, we say it is odd.
6. Use Pizza for division
Buy about three pizzas (anything that can be divided into equal parts will work, but pizzas are just more fun) and make sure your child invites some friends--she'll need help eating all that pizza! Have your child cut the first pizza into two equal parts, the second into three equal parts, and the third into four equal parts. Then explain that even though each of them has been divided into a different number of pieces, each is still one whole pizza. For example, if you take a pizza and cut it into two pieces, two out of two pieces is one pizza, or 2/2 = 1. Similarly, 3/3 = 1, 4/4 = 1 and so on. This demonstrates the important property that whenever the numerator and denominator of a fraction are the same, the fraction is equal to one. Be sure your child understands this idea because it will help in further studies of fractions.
7. Count everything!
Count toys, kitchen utensils, and items of clothing as they come out of the dryer. Help your child count by pointing to and moving the objects as you say each number out loud. Count forwards and backwards from different starting places. Use household items to practise adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.
8. Sing counting songs and read counting books.
Every culture has counting songs, such as "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" and "Ten Little Monkeys", which make learning to count – both forwards and backwards – fun for children. Counting books also capture children's imagination, by using pictures of interesting things to count and to add.
9. Discover the many ways in which numbers are used inside and outside your home.
Take your child on a "number hunt" in your home or neighbourhood. Point out how numbers are used on the television set, the microwave, and the telephone. Spot numbers in books and newspapers. Look for numbers on signs in your neighbourhood. Encourage your child to tell you whenever he or she discovers a new way in which numbers are used.
10. Practise "skip counting".
Together, count by 2's and 5's. Ask your child how far he or she can count by 10's. Roll two dice, one to determine a starting number and the other to determine the counting interval. Ask your child to try counting backwards from 10, 20, or even 100.
11. Make up games using dice and playing cards.
Try rolling dice and adding or multiplying the numbers that come up. Add up the totals until you reach a target number, like 100. Play the game backwards to practise subtraction.
12. Play "Broken Calculator"
Pretend that the number 8 key on the calculator is broken. Without it, how can you make the number 18 appear on the screen? (Sample answers: 20 – 2, 15 + 3). Ask other questions using different "broken" keys.
