Playful Ways to Help Your Child Learn Math

A parent’s involvement in a child’s education is the single most important factor in that child’s academic success. The single most important factor. Decades of educational research tells us that an involved parent contributes overwhelmingly to his/her child’s grades and test scores, school attendance and quality of homework, positive attitudes and behavior at school, likelihood of graduation, and desire to enroll in higher education. In many ways, as I’ll describe, you’re the essence of your child’s education; you’ve got the power!

Don’t Laugh – That’s Math
by Judith A. Zaino

Many times I’ve heard a parent say,
“I can help my child in any way,
But don’t laugh –
I can’t do math”.
I think for a minute before I say,
Let’s look at this another way.
Have you ever said, “Wait a minute:
Here’s a box with four things in it,
Let’s take turns; you first then me”,
Helped your child count branches on a tree?
Then you’re on the right path.
Don’t laugh – that’s math!
Have you taught your child left and right?
Counted her toes in bed at night?
Repeated his favorite nursery rhyme?
Said good night just one more time?
Have you ever split a cookie right in half?
Formed a pattern on a snowy path?
Well, don’t laugh – that’s math!
Have you ever played a game?
Measured for a picture frame?
Have you cut chains for your Christmas tree?
Noticed a butterfly’s wings have symmetry?
Did you ever check the miles into town?
Have you counted stairs both up and down?
Did you ever measure to see how tall?
Find the weight of her favorite doll?
Well, don’t laugh – that’s math!
Math can be seen in everything,
Even in the songs we sing.
Math isn’t just adding and subtracting,
multiplying, dividing, or even protracting.
Math exists all around us;
We didn’t find it – it found us!
Now remember, when this little poem is done,
If it has given you a small fraction of fun,
Don’t laugh – that’s math!

Family involvement is an essential element for a child’s success in mathematics and school. You are one of your child’s most valuable resources.

Math is all around us. The following math games and activities are just a few of the things you can do with your children which will nurture their mathematical development while being just plain fun!

• Count, count, and count! Young children love to count and will count everything and anything. Encourage your child to count out loud the number of steps climbed, spoons in the silverware drawer, french fries in her kids’ meal, buttons on all her shirts, etc.

• Practice classifying by separating toys into sets, such as things with wheels, things that have red on them, things that have numbers or words on them, things that roll, etc. Ask questions related to size or quantity: Which is larger? Which is largest? Which is smaller? Which is smallest? Do you have more dolls or more animals? Are their fewer dogs or fewer cats?

• Find two and three-dimensional geometric shapes, such as circles and spheres.

• Let your child help set the table. Fold napkins as rectangles one day, then as triangles the next. Find the number of legs on the chairs and table needed for everyone to eat.

• Let your child sort the laundry. Before washing, have your child sort the piles by colors or by family members. How many zippers? How many buttons? Are there more buttons or more zippers?

• Practice counting and making change. Ask your child to help you figure out how much money you have in your pocket or purse. Sort the coins. Let your child pick out the paper money and change needed when making a purchase, and have your child tell you how much change you should get back.

• Use sharing to reinforce division concepts and fraction skills. How many cookies will each child get if two children need to share 8 cookies? How many cookies will each child get if two children share 5 cookies? How can we cut the birthday cake so we can feed at least twenty people?

• Incorporate measuring during everyday activities, such as cooking, gardening, crafts, or home-improvement projects. Practice measuring things with a ruler, yardstick, tape measure, measuring cups, and scale.

• Use the kitchen to reinforce mathematics concepts and skills. Your child can practice sorting by helping put the groceries away and can practice measuring ingredients by helping cook meals, bake cookies, etc. Measuring cups are great for the sandbox or beach, too! Older children can determine how to adjust the ingredients to halve or double the recipe. After meals, your child can practice spatial reasoning skills by determining the appropriate size of containers to use for leftovers.

• Numbers are all around us! Look for numbers in the environment (e.g., addresses, sports statistics, weather forecasts, license plates, prices), and talk about what they mean and how they are used.

• Keep charts or graphs to help your child organize information and keep track of data. A child who is saving his/her allowance to buy an item might create a chart or graph to show how much he/she can save.

• Open a savings account. Work with your child to keep track of deposits, withdrawals, and interest and to compare this record with the monthly bank statement.

• Encourage a child who is a sports enthusiast to keep track of scores and statistics.

The following are two great games for young children:

Speed!

What you need:
Each player requires their own full deck of cards.

Each player holds their deck of cards until the parent says “Go”. Each player then proceeds to sort the complete deck into piles according to the same numbers as quickly as possible.

Piles MUST be put into consecutive order from smallest to greatest value. The first player to sort all their cards accordingly wins.
Play this one over and over again!

Blast Off!
What you need:
2 players
2 dice
1 set of cards 1-10 for each player

Each player arranges their cards in front of themselves in order:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Each player must get rid of their cards in sequence starting with the 10 and going down. Players must first roll a 10, then 9, etc.

Player #1 rolls the dice. Players have two rolls per turn. If player #1 does not roll a 10 in his/her 2 rolls, he/she loses the turn.

Player #2 does the same.

The first player to eliminate their cards in sequence, and is left with only the 1 is the winner.

Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood

You’re never too young to start learning, and now one school program teaches the basics of math to toddlers.

And just what, exactly, is at the heart of this effort at a Corpus Christi school? Math games!

Do young children naturally engage in mathematical thinking and learning before they begin mathematics instruction in Kindergarten? From a developmental point of view, is there really any point in trying to foster mathematical thinking and learning in the preschool years?

Research over the last twenty-five years suggests that preschoolers engage in all sorts of everyday activities that involve mathematics, and as a result, develop a considerable body of informal knowledge.

Young children have an inherent need to make sense of the world and master it. They have an intrinsic desire to search for patterns, explanations, and solutions.

Use math games to prompt interest and development. Play is one of the most important ways children learn about their world and master skills for coping with it. Games are a particularly useful form of play that help children develop mathematical concepts and reasoning and practice basic mathematical skills. In addition to being challenging, interesting, and enjoyable for children, games provide a means for structuring experiences to meet children’s development needs.

Games can also serve as an invaluable diagnostic tool. By observing a child playing a particular game, parents and early childhood educators can detect specific strengths and weaknesses in mathematical concepts, reasoning, and skills.

The Kindergarten games manual has many games appropriate for preschoolers.

Kids and Addition and Subtraction

If you are a first or second grade teacher or the parent of a first or second grader, you have undoubtedly observed that children find addition easier and more natural than subtraction. Children struggle with subtraction even when they learn “fact families” (1+3=4, 3+1=4, 4-1=3, 4-3=1) that ostensibly help them understand the relationship between addition and subtraction.

Given that children continue to find subtraction difficult despite the use of time-honored practices, I suggest that teachers and parents de-emphasize fluency in subtraction until their children become fluent in addition. Once children’s knowledge of a sum is solid, the related subtraction is easy for them. In other words, fluency in subtraction is dependent on fluency in addition.

The educational implication is that teachers and parents must de-emphasize fluency in subtraction in grades one and two and heavily emphasize addition. Permit children to learn sums first and then deduce differences from their knowledge of sums.

It is imperative that children have, in long-term memory, all the combinations of numbers up to and including 10.

Example: Students need to know all the combinations of 9 – 0+9, 1+8, 2+7, 3+6, 4+5, 5+4, 4+5, 3+6, 7+2, 8+1, 9+0

There is an easy and fun way to get children fluent in addition – math games! Children are intrinsically motivated to play games and to play them well. If they learn arithmetic in the process, they learn it for their own use. When teachers or parents instruct children to complete worksheets or pressure them to do well on timed tests, the children’s motivation to learn comes from external sources, and workbook pages, dittos, and timed tests aren’t nearly as much fun!

Here’s one of my favorite math games for first graders and second graders:

Add-em Up
What you need:
2 players
2 dice
counters
Add-em Up game board for each player – take a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 paper and cut it in half horizontally. Write the numbers 1 through 12 at the bottom of each paper.

Players place a counter above each number.

Player #1 rolls the dice and adds the 2 numbers. He/she may then remove the counter over the sum from the game board or the counters over any 2 numbers that add up to that same sum.

Example: Player #1 rolls a 3 and a 4. He/she may remove the
counter above the 7 or the counters above any
combination for 7, such as 1 & 6, or 2 & 5, or 3 & 4.

Players take turns rolling the dice and removing counters. When a player cannot remove counters that match the sum rolled or a combination, he/she loses that turn.

Play continues until neither player can remove counters. The player with the most counters removed wins.

Fostering Your Child’s Success in Math

What does math mean to you? Do you remember math as a bunch of rules to memorize, concepts that did not make sense, and assignments unconnected with everyday life?

Regardless of your own experiences, you play an important role in your child’s attitude toward, and success with, math. A strong mathematical background is essential for every child’s future. A solid mathematics education is essential for an informed public, our national security, a strong economy, and national well-being. Mastering challenging mathematics is not just a classroom skill – it’s a life skill.

The following is a National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ list of what families can do to help their children succeed in and enjoy math:

1. Be positive! If you have a negative attitude about math, chances are your child will, too. Help your child have a “can do” attitude by praising your child’s efforts as well as his/her accomplishments. Acknowledge the fact that math can be challenging at times and that persistence and hard work are the keys to success.

2. Link math with daily life. Every day, people face situations that involve math, such as deciding whether one has enough money to purchase a list of items at the store, reading a map to find out where one is, building a budget, deciding on the shortest route to a destination, developing a schedule, or determining the price of an item on sale. Help your child realize that math is a significant part of everyday life.

3. Make math fun. Play math games, solve puzzles, and ponder brain teasers with your child.

4. Have high expectations. You would not expect your child not to read; similarly, you should not expect your child not to do math. Your attitude and expectations are crucial to influlencing the future opportunities for your child.

5. Support homework, don’t do it! Homework is an area that can cause trouble in many households. Relax, and remember whose homework it is. If you take over doing homework for your child, you encourage him/her to easily give up or seek help when working on a challenging problem.

Playing Math Games with Children

Question most adults about what it would take to get kids hooked on math, and many would ask, “Is that possible?”

As a veteran elementary teacher, I know that kids can get hooked on math at an early age, and if you miss that window, it’s harder to get them into it later.

What can parents and teachers of young children do to get their children excited about math? Well, you could buy a $200. program. Or you could buy a deck of cards, a couple of dice, and/or some board games and begin to play math games. I can guarantee that the latter will be a lot less expensive and a great deal more engaging.

I tried to teach my child with books.
He only gave me puzzled looks.
I tried to teach my child with words.
They passed him by, unheard.
In despair I turned aside.
“How will I teach my child?” I cried.
Into my hand he put the key…
“Come” he said, “and play with me”.
Unknown

The Importance of Play
There are many math games and activities that have a great deal to do with having fun as you learn. One of the things we positively know about children (and adults) is that if pleasure is not a part of what you are doing, you will not be willing to do it very much or for very long.

Many parents regard play as rather trivial in the lives of their young children and would much rather see their kids get involved in “educational” activities. To parents, it often seems that all children do is play! They play until they are five or six, then they go off to school and start to learn. They play until they are big enough to really begin to do things.

The act of playing is an important tool that influences a child’s life. The primary goals of childhood are to grow, learn, and play. It is often through play that children learn to make sense of the world around them. It is a child’s “job” to play to develop physical coordination, emotional maturity, social skills to interact with others, and self-confidence to try new experiences and explore new environments.

Play to a child IS learning! They learn to play and play to learn. Play is terribly important to a child. It is not a distraction. It’s not something they do to take up time. It’s a child’s life.

So, begin to “play” with your child. Playing math games is a wonderful way to learn as you play.

A Math Game for Third Graders

Math games are a highly effective and engaging way to get students involved in practicing basic math skills. The following double-digit addition math game is great for second graders, third graders, and fourth graders. It not only addresses addition but forces students to look at the importance of place value.

Get Close to 100

What you need:
2 – 4 players
deck of cards, 10s and face cards removed
paper and pencils for each player

The object of the game is to make a two-digit addition problem that comes as close to 100 as possible.

Shuffle cards and place them face down in a pile.

Player #1 turns over 4 cards and moves the cards around until he/she has created a problem whose sum will be as close to 100 as he/she can make it. Player #1 records this problem on his/her paper.

Player #2 checks for addition accuracy.

Example: Player #1 draws a 4, a 7, a 2, and a 5. He/she moves the cards around until she/he decides that 47 + 52 = 99 is the closest that he/she can get.

Player # 2 draws four cards and does the same.

The points for each round are the difference between their sum and 100.
Example: A sum of 95 scores 5 points and so does a sum of 105.

Players compare scores at the end of this first round. They put their four cards in a discard pile and player #2 begins first and turns over four more cards for the second round.

After six rounds, players total their points and the player with the lowest score wins.

Variation: Make this a triple-digit addition game called Get Close to 1000! by drawing 6 cards and creating two triple-digit numbers which when added together, get as close to 1000 as possible.

A Math Game for Fourth Graders

By the time students reach 4th grade, they should be getting fairly good at multiplication. Students need dozens of repetitions of each multiplication fact before it is solidly in long-term memory. The following math game is appropriate for fourth graders. It helps them practice their multiplication skills and extends their knowledge into exponents.

Exponent War

What you need:
2 players
deck of cards 1 – 5, or 1 – 9 (for advanced players)
paper and pencils

Shuffle cards. Players divide cards evenly between themselves. Players turn over two cards each. The first card turned up is the base card and the second card is the exponent.

Example: Player #1 turns up a 3 then a 4. His/her total is 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 81.

The player with the highest total wins all four cards. Play continues until one all the cards are gone. The player with the most cards is the winner.

In the event of a tie, each player get two more cards. In the same manner, the player with the highest total wins all 8 cards.

Real-Life Math in Elementary School and Beyond

Elementary school students in three of Kingsport, Tennessee’s four high school zones took some weekend time this school year to learn practical, hands-on applications of math in the “real world”.

My question is, why isn’t their regular, everyday math curriculum talking about math in the “real world”?

Many educators contend that children must go beyond memorizing rules—they need to know when and how to apply the rules in real-world situations. Many also argue that realistic problems can serve as a powerful motivator in the mathematics classroom. They go on to conclude that the curriculum should consist of real-world problems because students will naturally learn mathematics by solving such problems.

The basics are changing. Arithmetic skills, although important, are no longer enough. To succeed in tomorrow’s world, students must understand algebra, geometry, statistics, and probability. Business and industry demand workers who can-

solve real world problems

explain their thinking to others

identify and analyze trends from data, and

use modern technology.

The mathematics students do in school should prepare them for the new basic skills necessary for their futures.

Instead of problems done with no context using worksheets, dittos, and workbook pages, students should be working on problems to investigate that are related to real life, such as investigating salaries, life expectancy, and fair decisions, for example.

Giving students opportunities to learn real math maximizes their future options.

Using money, counting change, etc. is a real-life skill that children need to learn. Play the following game with your second graders, third graders, and fourth graders.

Money Race

What you need:
2 players
1 die
pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters
sturdy paper plate for “bank”

The following coins (which equal $1.00) are placed in the “Bank” between the two players. A paper plate makes a great bank.

10 pennies, 5 nickels, 4 dimes, and 1 quarter

Each player also takes the same combination of coins for a total of $1.00.

Money Legend:
1 – subtract a penny and put it in the bank
2 – subtract a nickel or 5 pennies and put it in the bank
3 – subtract a dime or a combination of coins that equals 10 cents
and put it in the bank
4 – subtract a quarter or a combination of coins that equals
25 cents and put it in the bank
5 & 6 – choose any one coin from the bank

Player #1 rolls the die and either adds or subtracts the appropriate coins.

Player #2 does the same.

Play continues in this manner until both players have completed 10 rolls. Players total their own coins. The player with the greatest amount wins.