Teaching your children math can be very difficult. Not all children are interested in learning numbers. As a teacher or parent, we need to find ways how to make them understand the basics of this subject. For example, using your creative skills, you can incorporate counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, time, and money using a variety of math games. By teaching them while they play, you can develop children’s skills and knowledge. Then math will become easier for them because they will be willing to focus.
Here are some tips to consider on how to get your kids focused on learning math.
count hide and seek
Let your child practice counting by letting him play hide and seek. Let younger children or beginners count from 1 to 20, older children count by twos, threes, fives, or tens. This will improve your counting ability by playing “Hide and Seek”. Kids can play this game anywhere. The rules are simple and your children will have hours of fun.
find your passion
Being a parent, you know what your child’s strengths and weaknesses are, therefore you know what they are passionate about. As you teach, it is important that you know how to incorporate mathematics into this passion. When children like what they are doing, they will focus more and get things done faster. For example, if your son loves basketball, get out the newspaper and ask him to analyze the basketball scores to see how much the other teams won.
All children like to pretend that they have a store or a bank. Take advantage of this, pretend to be a customer and have a list of items or a bank deposit or withdrawal. This would be the perfect opportunity to help them; if you don’t understand how to sum the list of items, please help them because you have their full attention. Multiple studies have shown that by entering its fictional world you can influence what happens in this interactive game; The possibilities are endless.
Practice using dice games
Playing simple dice games can allow your children to practice their arithmetic skills. Yahtzee is a dice game where you have to identify patterns to earn points and keep score. Hopscotch can also develop your addition and agility. While playing hopscotch, ask them to add the numbers of their new and old places, and then when they get to the new square, ask them to give their answer. If they are correct, they stay where they are, if the answer is wrong, ask them to go back to the previous box. Using this technique, you can twist this game even further by changing the numbers and working on multiplication. Have them start with a multiple of 1 and play ten rounds ending at multiplier 10. If they master sets up to 10, start at 10 and work their way up to 20.
everyday math
Notice how mathematics is part of your daily activities; use this awareness and opportunities to ask them questions. When conversing with them, incorporate math terms by using word problems to explain the tasks that need to be completed. This will emphasize to your children that math really is a part of life and that math is important to their success. By engaging in life skills that involve math, they’ll realize it’s not as hard as they think.
Do math in pairs
To help your child not feel alone, you can let children have a partner to solve math problems or practice math together. He motivates them to learn by not letting them feel like they are not alone. Interacting with other people will keep them interested because they can be challenged with new questions that they might ask themselves.
Math can be hard. When kids find math difficult, they may withdraw and isolate themselves so they don’t feel embarrassed. Helping them with math directly helps them with self-esteem. It is essential that in our daily activities we incorporate mathematics in different ways; this can be a lot of fun for kids. Orientation in learning mathematics is essential when they are young.
A recent study showed that your child is imprinted with everything he sees, hears, and feels up to the age of 8. With those experiences, he makes judgments about how he perceived ideas in the past. If they have a bad experience with math, they will remain traumatized and may have a hard time changing their perception. Understand that you children are intellectual sponges and be aware of what you are exposed to; these experiences will change their lives.
