Helping Your Child Learn Mathematics - Activities: Mathematics in the Home

Your home is a great place for you to begin to explore and "talk" mathematics with your child. Incorporating math activities and language into familiar daily routines will show your child how math works in his everyday life and provide him with a safe environment in which to take risks by trying new things.

Rhyme and Sing - Preschool

Young children love to hear, sing and say nursery rhymes and songs. Counting rhymes and songs can be both enjoyable for them and introduce them to basic mathematics concepts, such as number names and number sequence.

What You Need

• Book of nursery rhymes or songs
• Feather

What to Do

• Teach your child to the following counting rhyme.

  Four Little Ducks

  Four little ducks that I once knew,
  Fat ducks, skinny ducks, they were, too.
  But one little duck with a feather on her back,
  She ruled the others with a quack! quack! quack!
  Down to the river they all would go,
  1, 2, 3, 4, all in a row.
  But one little duck with a feather on her back,
  She ruled the others with a quack! quack! quack!

• Say the rhyme with your child several times. When she can say the rhyme all the way through, have other family members join you. Give your child a feather and have her lead everyone around the room as you all sing.

• For the following rhyme, show your child how to perform the actions.

  Five Little Speckled Frogs

  Five little speckled frogs
  (hold up five fingers)
  Sitting on a speckled log
  (sit on your heels)
  Eating some most delicious bugs
  (pretend to eat)
  Yum! Yum!
  One jumped into the pool
  (jump)
  Where it was nice and cool
  (cross arms over chest and shiver)
  Now there are four little speckled frogs.
  (hold up four fingers)
  Burr-ump!
  (Continue until no frogs are left.)

• After saying the rhyme, ask your child to hold up the correct number of fingers to show how many frogs are in the rhyme at the beginning. Then have her hold up the correct number of fingers and count to five with you as you say each numeral.

• Teach your child any counting rhymes and songs that were your personal favorites when you were a child, or have your child ask her grandparents what rhymes they knew when they were children. Other counting rhymes, songs and games that you may want to teach your child include "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe," "This Old Man," "Ten in a Bed (Roll Over)" and "One for the Money."

Number Hunt - Preschool

		Sometimes younger children don't understand that counting means naming numbers in a specific order. This simple point should be reinforced often.

By counting, using number names and learning to recognize differences in number values, children build a foundation for the development of number sense and mathematical reasoning.

• What You Need
• 3 plastic eggs that come apart (or similar containers)
• Buttons
• Plastic netting

What to Do

• In pieces of netting, loosely wrap different numbers of buttons and place one bag of buttons in each egg. With your child out of the room, hide the eggs.

• Call your child into the room and tell her that you've hidden three eggs and that you want her to find them. As she finds each egg, have her count aloud—"1," "2," "3."

• When she's found all the eggs, have her open each one and take out the bag of buttons (but not open it). Ask her to count how many buttons are in each bag.

Walk and Count - Preschool-Kindergarten

		Throughout the day, find ways to let children practice using arithmetic skills. Ask, for example, "How many magazines came in the mail?" "How many more letters will we need to get to have 10 letters?" "Which are there more of, magazines or letters?"

Ordinary activities can be used to reinforce young children's number sense and introduce them to arithmetic operations such as addition and subtraction.

What to Do

• Take your child for a walk. You can walk around your neighborhood, through a park, or just around the rooms in your home. As you walk, say silly things for him to do, such as the following:

  • Take two big steps and three little steps.
  • Take three little steps, hop one time, take three big steps.
  • Take one little step, turn around two times.
  • Hop four times, turn around one time.
  • Take three big steps forward and two big steps backward.

• Count aloud each kind of action that your child performs and compliment him for his efforts—"1, 2—1, 2, 3—1, 2. That's great!"

• Let your child turn the tables and say silly things for you to do as you walk.

• For your kindergarten child, expand the activity by asking him to "guess" (estimate) how many of his steps it will it take, for example, to get from the tree to the corner. After he makes his estimate, have him count steps to see how close the estimate is. Next ask him how many of your steps it will take. Will it take you more steps or fewer to go the same distance? Again, have him count to see if his answers are correct.

Find It - Preschool-Kindergarten

		Calling attention to numbers that are all around them lets children know that numbers are important and that they are used for many different purposes.

Young children may not recognize that numbers are all around them. Pointing out numbers on everyday items increases their number sense.

What You Need

• Boxes, cans and bottles of food and other household supplies

What to Do

• Place several boxes, cans and bottles on the kitchen table. You might use a cereal box, a can of soup and a bottle of dishwashing soap. Sit with your child and point out one- or two numbers on each item. (Numbers can be found in the names of some products, as well as in the list of contents and in addresses. However, rather than point to a very large number, such as a ZIP code, point to one digit in that code—a 6 or 3 or 8.)

• Point to one of the items and say a number that is easy to see. Ask your child to find it. Then have him look for that number on the other items.

• Have your child choose a number for you to find on one of the containers.

Sort It Out - Preschool-Kindergarten

		Children need to see that grown-ups also make math mistakes occasionally and that they identify their mistakes and find ways to correct them.

Sorting and matching activities introduce young children to many mathematical operations, including classification and measurement.