Have you ever wondered how you can help prepare your preschool or early grades student to become a mathematical rockstar? What if I were to tell you that there are a couple easy tricks that you can do at home as a part of your everyday activities? It can even be fun!
Here’s the rundown:
Tip #1: Use mathematical language with your kiddo. Remember, math is really just a language that explains the relationships we encounter in the world around us. Helping our kids build the vocabulary of that language early provides them with a huge head start. You can do this with counting and numbers (“How many blueberries are left?”), but you can also do with relational words like more, fewer, as many, etc. It can also be applied to geometric descriptors, such as edge, line, angle, part. You can identify shapes. You can even talk about basic fractions (two halves), or functions (divide, add, etc.). The great part here is that kids are learning to use and apply the basic mathematical vocabulary in the world around them – they’re learning to think about their world mathematically!
Tip #2: Games, games, games. Children are geared towards play. Everything from simple card games like War, to counting spaces to move in a turn of Shoots and Ladders, to keeping track of money in Monopoly, there are so many games that are quantitatively based at some level. These provide great opportunities not only to spend quality time together, but to season that time with the mathematical language described above – without ever breaking out a worksheet or workbook!
Little did you know that you’re ready to be an early childhood math teaching savant!
For more info and a deeper dive, check out this article by Dr. Erica Zippert.
