We can’t all like maths – that’s a fact. It comes easily to some and not so easily to others. The important thing to remember though, is that if you weren’t a fan of maths as a child, it doesn’t automatically follow that your child won’t be. Keep an open mind, especially with smaller children. With smaller children, a fear of maths can begin quite early on. This comes solely from lack of understanding. This is why it’s really important to help your child get to grips with the basics as soon as they are able to.
Start with counting
Making numbers fun from the start will help your child to face their learning journey with an open mind and confidence. Pre-school children can enjoy not just counting steps and so on, but counting games with various fun objects.
Measuring can be done not only with a ruler but also with building bricks – ask your child “How many bricks long is the table?” and help them to lay out bricks the length of the table and count as you go. You will find they’ll want to ‘measure’ everything in sight! Progress to using a ruler as they grow more confident in number recognition.
Hiding numbers
Cut out some numbers 1-10 from construction paper. Make them biggish so they’re easy to spot. Now hide them around the room or garden and send your child off on a number hunt. Physically interacting with numbers helps children to understand them more.
Shapes
Shapes are part of maths too. Help your child get to grips with as many shapes as possible by providing them with plenty of shape sorting games. Cut shapes out of paper and label them. Hide shapes within the pictures you draw together. Ask your child to find shapes in the world around them – squares in a building are the easy ones. What else can you find?
Stay on top of learning
As your child starts school, they will slowly begin to tackle more complex maths and you can help them by making sure they grasp each concept as it is introduced. Some children pick it up easily whilst others take longer. Help your child by having them practise often but in a fun way. Pressure can worry them. As the leaders of this independent school in Hammersmith believe, all children have the capacity to become independent learners and keeping pressure off whilst challenging children is key to this.