Some children love math and can easily solve math computation questions and word problems. Yet for other students, math is a struggle. Help your child develop stronger math skills with the four tips below.
Make it multisensory!
For many children, a multisensory approach, including seeing, feeling, and touching items, can help them better understand math concepts. When you are teaching young children addition and subtraction concepts, for example, take out beads or M&Ms and show them what it means to start with two beads and add one more; or to start with four M&Ms and eat two of them. Once you show them several examples using concrete objects, you can use a mini whiteboard to write the corresponding equation, like 2+1=3 or 4-2=2. Do many practice problems like these until your child grasps what it means to add and subtract objects. You can also use base ten blocks to help them create numbers and understand place value, number lines to visually understand addition and subtraction, and pizza slices for understanding fractions.
Supermarket shopping
Help your child build real life math skills while shopping at the supermarket! Bring your young child with you to the store and take them to the produce aisle. Select three orange and two grapefruits and ask your child to count them and tell you how many pieces of fruit in total you picked out. Then ask them to put one back and tell you how many you now have left. For older children, you can ask them to look at the price per pound for a certain item and ask them how much it would cost if you bought three or four pounds of that item. Additionally, you can look for items on sale and ask them to tell you how much it would cost for two cans of soup that are $2 each if they are “buy one, get one half off,” or how much 25% off a $10 item would be. At checkout, have them estimate how much they think the total will come to, then compare it to the actual total.
Baking
Baking with your child can be another great way to help them build their math skills. Have them find a recipe for cookies or muffins they’d like to make and take out the ingredients they’ll need. They may need to measure 1/2 cup of water, 1/4 cup of oil, or 2 tablespoons of sugar - a great way to build their fractions measurement skills. Ask them how much of each item they would need if they doubled or tripled the recipe. They can also build sequencing skills by following the step-by-step process the recipe requires.
Play games!
Play games with your child to further build their math skills. Games such as Monopoly, Dominos, Sequence, and Concentration can all help your child develop stronger math skills while having fun. They can also play online games, such as Math Playground, Fun Brain Math, and Mr. Mishal to further enrich their math skills. Have fun while playing these math games! The more your child enjoys math and practices their math skills, the more their performance will improve.
Math is an important skill for success in school. You can try math tutoring if your child continues to struggle but trying these strategies and ideas at home can help your child build much stronger math skills.
