If you have a child in the elementary or grade school who has tough time learning basic math and mathematical concepts, then this article is for you.
For most kids, Mathematics is not exactly their favorite subject and due to pretty much the same reason it is a headache for parents and teachers as well. But innovative and fun ways of teaching (and learning) math can make a huge difference to kids in their approach to Math.
How to Make Math Fun to Learn?
The following are some tips and tricks to get your child interested in math and hence master it without him or her even knowing about it.
- Math based puzzles, activities and board games are excellent ways to get your kid interested in mathematics. By introducing these math games at the right ages, will help them understand math concepts and master them as well. There is no particular age to start these – the earlier the better
- During your story reading time, introduce interesting math questions related to and blended with your story and let your child answer them. He will definitely get interested in math over time
- It is important that your child understand the concept of buying and selling and the best opportunity to do that is when you do your grocery. Let him understand the concepts of rebates, coupons, buy-cheap deals etc and help you shop smart. As a next step, allow your kid to accept the printed receipt, read it and hand over the money to the checker. Let him take the change and count it as well. This is a very effective approach that needs to be tried out very early in the kid’s life
- Kids should understand the concepts of savings and let him join you during your bank visits and understand how things work at banks. Every child should also have his own piggy bank where he saves his pocket money and later you can introduce the concept of allowances
- Introduce him or her to the concepts of time and date by developing interest in calendars, clocks etc. Calendar math is fun when he learns about holidays, seasonal (Easter, halloweens etc), countdown to family events etc. At a later stage let him have his own planner calendar
- Youtube can be an amazing resource for math puzzles and questions for kids as well as some teaching lessons for parents. Use online resources as much as possible as they come free, not to forget those excellent tips tried and tested by parents
- Math learning software and videos are another way to get your kids interested in Mathematics
- You can introduce the concepts of angles, shapes, directions etc during your family drive by getting him interested in road signs, symmetries and by making him read sign boards, license plate numbers etc.
The above are some of the tricks that I as a parent used to do from time to time. You can be creative with what works best for your child.
Happy learning and teaching!