Practice Math at Home!

Math is all around us from the day we are born. “When was he born?” “How much did she weigh?” “How long was she?” Encourage children to see the math all around them and in their everyday lives by having fun with it at home. Here are some ways to practice math at home.

• Count, count, and oh, by the way–– COUNT! Count the steps you take, the cars you see on the road, the flags and the animals to help your child connect counting and numbers.
• Invite your child to help you measure with recipes or build small projects, e.g., a birdhouse or fort.
• Point out numbers in daily activities, a clock, dates, times, addresses, microwave and television displays, recipes and more.
• Find items around the home to sort, such as laundry, buttons or books. Use words such as “more” and “less” to compare the piles.
• Make a homemade hopscotch or tossing game and encourage your child to write the numbers with chalk or on paper for the game.
• Seriate items around the home by placing them in order from smallest to largest, shortest to tallest, lightest to darkest or lightest to heaviest.
• Allow children to handle, count and play with coins and dollars to become familiar with monetary units.
  

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Using these methods to practice math at home, you will demonstrate joy and excitement over math and numbers, and your child will mimic that attitude. Math can be entertaining and informative from the start; pass that on to your child by adding fun!