Helping your child with maths
When your child's at primary school, they'll learn how to do maths. You can help them develop their numeracy skills by exploring number ideas around the home.
Developing maths skills in everyday life
Successful learning depends on having problem solving skills, thinking logically and ability to read and write.
Primary school children usually have a daily maths lesson, but an easy way to boost their skills and motivation is by showing them how useful number skills are in almost everything they do.
Children can have fun:
- measuring their height and working out how much they've grown
- on car journeys - playing number-plate games, adding and subtracting with road signs, thinking about speed by dividing distance by time
- at the shops - weighing fruit and vegetables, budgeting with pocket money, working out the relative value of products by comparing prices and weight
- in the kitchen - with weighing and measuring, temperature and timings
- making models and origami shapes
Working out maths
Make a game out of putting little problems to your child and letting them reason things through, prompting as little as you can. For example, while cooking ask them to work out the amounts if a recipe is doubled.
Praise your child for trying, even if they get stuck or get things wrong.
New experiences and discoveries are always stimulating, and they don't have to be expensive or elaborate:
- if you go for a country walk, collect different types of leaves, look for insects or signs of wild animals, and think about why metal goes rusty or lichen grows on one side of trees
- introduce your child to simple map-reading using a road atlas or map of your area
- on holiday, be aware of all the things that are different to home - buildings, accents, languages, clothes, food and customs
- find out if there are clubs in your area which will interest your child - ask the local library or leisure centre for information