Some kids find maths really challenging. There are lots of reasons for this, children have a set of natural abilities - they may be better at arts subjects or language subjects than at the sciences/ mathematics. They may even suffer from dyscalculia (numerical dyslexia). Here are our top ten tips to help your child progress with mathematics:
- Practise mental maths with your child. Children can't get too reliant on a calculator or a pencil and paper. Practise counting numbers of objects, the number of steps it takes to get to school, or calculate the result of a multiplication, division, addition or subtraction.
- Play games that involve counting. Monopoly, darts, snooker for example.
- Encourage your child to keep track of and save their pocket money. Work out with your child how long it will take them to be able to afford a toy.
- Apply maths to your child's activities. If your child is mad about dinosaurs, talk with them about widths, sizes, weights, time etc.
- Encourage your child to play with toys that involve counting. A cash register, an abacus, a tape measure, a pack of cards etc.
- Get Creative. Point out patterns and regular shapes in buildings, clouds, animals, shells, tiles. Show them how to use regular shapes to make more complicated shapes - for example draw a person using circles, squares, triangles and lines.
- Time things. Use digital and analogue clocks, guess how long something will take, work out how long it is until their favourite show is on the television. How many days is it till the weekend, or the next holiday?
- Cook things. Use ingredients in recipes to show your child how volumes, weights and measures work. Calculate the time to cook based on the amounts in the recipe and set the timer on a countdown.
- Work out your family tree and your how your child relates to distant relatives.
- Encourage your child to talk to their friends and discuss what they've learned and how to work things out. This will really help them to remember things.