Imagine asking your kids to do reading/ studying beyond the homework! Every parent has two big fears — the tantrums and also the fear that too much coercion might make them hate the subject! Here are five tips to build in math in daily activities, without explicitly making it look like they are studying J
1. Involve them in cooking: Kids love to help out. Depending on the level of understanding of kids. You can start with simple ones, such as “ Vinay, Amma needs 3 onions. I have one, can you get me the rest please?” and go on to something like, “ When I cook for you and Preeti, I use 4 tomatoes, how many do you think I need to use for all 4 of us?”
2. Sorting: Sorting is a very important mathematical skill that is easy to develop at a very young age. While cleaning and organizing your house involve the kids to do the sorting. “Keep the small spoons to the left, and the big spoons to the right, you can count how many are there in each set”
3. Measure and Record: if you have more than one kid around, (siblings cousins, relatives, neighbors or friends). Have a record notebook. Here are a few things you can record
a. Ask kids to throw a ball ask them to measure distance and record it. You can teach subtraction by finding out the distance between first and second throws.
b. You can record height, weight and arrange in ascending / descending order
c. You can use a stop clock to record time taken to run a fixed distance, arrange data and do simple math like, “ Preeti came firs, how many seconds far back was Vinay?”
4. Stories: There are a lot of children’s books available in the market that combine math with stories. Here is a list of a few we found on the StoryWeaver platform we simply love
a. https://storyweaver.org.in/stories/4772-dum-dum-a-dum-biryani( for division, multiplication and unitary method)
b. https://storyweaver.org.in/stories/10963-same-same-or-different ( Sorting and Set theory)
c. https://storyweaver.org.in/stories/31137-who-made-the-tomato-chutney ( Sorting for slightly younger kids)
d. https://storyweaver.org.in/stories/4445-how-far-is-far (measurement and concept of distance)
e. https://storyweaver.org.in/stories/34318-neelumbera-on-a-full-moon-night( LCM )
5. Talk up Math: Children pick a lot from our conversations. Talking up math helps in children forming a positive association with the subject will help in the long run
a. You can talk about how you were very good at it in school and how it has helped you in your career
b. You can talk about some fun math quiz you participated in and won a prize
There are other ways to get math in the house too, such as card games, board games etc. Making it fun and a part of life !
Curated by:
Team Ekdali
