Maths at home with children 4–5 years old
The adage about children learning when they’re having fun is especially true when it comes to Maths. So the challenge is how to make playing around with numbers part of children’s everyday games and experiences.
Talk about numbers you see around you, such as house numbers, the buttons on the TV remote, car registration plates, bus numbers. This will help children to recognize digits 0 to 9.
Read counting books and recite number rhymes to build children’s confidence in the order of numbers, and counting both forwards and backwards.
Play games involving numbers, such as dominoes and snakes and ladders. Dice games are great for helping children learn to subitise (recognize how many dots they can see without having to count them).
Match numbers to objects when counting, e.g. laying out toys in a row and saying the numbers in order as you place each toy down, and emphasizing that the last number you say tells you the total number of toys. If the toys are moved around (but none added or taken away), they will learn that even if they are set out differently, the number remains the same (this is important mathematically).
Use concrete objects for counting, and for simple addition and subtraction. E.g. How many grapes do you have? If you ate two, how many would be left? You can also introduce the early stages of multiplication and division in a similar way. E.g. If you gave two grapes to each of your three teddies, how many grapes would we need in total? Or: You’ve got nine grapes there. Can you share them between your three teddies so they each get the same amount?
Whenever you play or carry out any games or activities involving numbers, try to keep it enjoyable for both you and your child. Little and often is best.
Praise and encouragement when your child finds a task difficult is very important. And little children (but plenty of older ones, too) like playing games they can win, so make it easy for them to win (and let them occasionally).
Maths at home with children 5–6 years old
The two most important things when it comes to learning Maths are enjoyment and motivation – and they are closely related. Children will improve at Maths with practice, and then will enjoy it when they succeed. A great deal of this depends on the experiences children have at home, and it helps if you praise them for their efforts and are patient when they’re slow to grasp a new concept.
Practice counting in 1s, 2s and 10s, e.g. looking at house numbers as they usually go in 2s. You could also start to talk about the idea of odd and even numbers, e.g. using pairs of socks.
Rehearse number bonds, as these will really help children to develop fluency in Maths. You could do this in a practical way, e.g. using small toys and two trays. To practice the bonds to 6, put six toys on one tray, and challenge children to find as many different ways as they can to split the toys between the two trays: 6 + 0, 5 + 1, 4 + 2, 3 + 3, 2 + 4, 1 + 5, 0 + 6.
Have a collection of ‘mathematical’ objects available, such as cards numbered 1–10, dice, dominoes, small toys, buttons, linking cubes, counters, etc. Children will be learning at school how they can use a range of objects to help them with their Maths.
Draw or print out ‘empty’ number lines and add them to your ‘Maths collection’. Have some with 10 divisions and some with 20, and you can add numbers to fit what you’re doing. E.g. use a number line with 20 divisions, label the ends 0 and 20, then label most of the other divisions with the correct numbers; ask children to fill in the missing numbers.
Play simple adding and subtracting games. E.g. put 10 objects on a tray and ask your child to choose two (or more) numbered cards, e.g. 2 and 5, then put the correct number of objects against each card and find the total. Children will gradually learn that in addition, the numbers we add together can be in any order, but in subtraction, the larger number has to come first.
Ask children to explain how they worked out an answer. This will show you how they’re thinking, what skills and knowledge they used, and if they’ve made a mistake it might help to highlight what has gone wrong.
Continue to play games involving numbers, such as dominoes and snakes and ladders. Let them win frequently (but not always).