When I was younger, I did a lot of numeracy drills with my parents. While, practicing mathematic skills is important. But everyday life contains numerous opportunities to help your children develop the depth of their mathematical understanding and to develop connections between these ideas. In this post, I will discuss fun, engaging, everyday activities which can help your children to develop their mathematical comprehension.
Everyday experiences handling and using money can help prepare children for their school work. For example, learning to count and add money is a good support for students in lower primary. It can also be useful for kids to play ‘shop games’ where they use toy money to buy different items. Whereas, developing a budget to save up for a toy may extend a year 6 student.
Learning to read digital time and analogue time(clock faces) can be a real support for many students. Once students have mastered this skill learning to read bus timetables and the like can really support them. In short, looking for any opportunities for youth to practice reading time through imaginary games or real life situations can really support your children to learn.
Cooking and making mixtures can be a great way to learn about ratios. For example, if you are mixing 2 cups of flour with 1 cup of water to make glue. This is an example of a 2:1 ratio. These types of hands-on experiences are important for developing mathematic understanding.
Life is filled with everyday experiences that can help your child learn. Keep an eye out for them to help make learning fun!