As adults, we use math every day, such as figuring out when we need to leave to get to a meeting that’s 45 minutes away or measuring ingredients for a recipe. Math is part of kids’ lives, too, and you can help them find it.
Show your child that you use math in your everyday life. Talk out loud when you’re figuring out a math problem, or ask for your child’s help:
“Hmm. If we want to have two potatoes for each person’s dinner tonight, how can we figure out how many potatoes we need to buy?”
Don’t worry if you make mistakes! It’s important for children to see that making mistakes is a normal part of the process when doing math.
If you are playing a game with your child, call out the math in the activity. Point out that they are counting to move a piece around the board.
You can also find math in the books you read with your kids, both in the stories and the pictures:
“So which of the three bears has the biggest bed?”
“Did the caterpillar eat more strawberries or more oranges?”
Just as you might relate experiences to a storybook, you can help your child make connections between math and their experiences or interests.
Remind your child of how she used a similar arithmetic strategy before in a different situation:
“Remember how you figured out how to share your toy cars with your brother yesterday?”
Now how could you do the same thing to share these apple slices?
Kids love to be helpers, and this is a great way for them to see how math can be useful. Ask for your child’s help in counting items at the grocery store, pushing the button for the right floor in the elevator, or counting how many stops the bus makes before you get home.
You can also point out how math is useful in activities that your child loves:
“Did you notice how you counted to figure out how many Legos you need to build the wall?”
