Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Math at Home

At home, the best way to help your child learn to love math is to play with numbers, and to frequently point out the various ways in which math makes our lives easier. Try these activities:

• Challenge them to guess at things, and then find the answers. Example: How many bowls of cereal do you think we can get out of this box? How many M&Ms do you think are in your bag? How many minutes do you think it will take to clear off the table? Which of these cups do you think will hold more juice?

• Ask your child to measure things in non-traditional units. Example: How many footsteps it takes to get from here to the door. Why do you think it's more for you and fewer for me?

• Have your child compare things: Which do you think is heavier — a cookie or ten chocolate chips? Who do you think is taller, mom or dad? Which carrot is longer? Fatter? Crunchier?

• Play board games, dice games, and card games with your child. Encourage her to make up her own games.

• Talk about how you use math when: balancing your checkbook, paying cashiers, changing bills for coins, etc.

• Teach your child to budget his own money — by helping him save up for a special toy or activity.

• Involve your child in measuring ingredients for recipes.

• Most of all, try to be positive about math — even if it was your worst subject in school. If your child's having trouble in it, or starts complaining that it's too hard or too boring, act as though you know that if she keeps on trying, she'll improve

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