Ideas for Maths at Home (from Ministry of Education)
Talk together and have fun with numbers and patterns
Help your child to:
- find and connect numbers around your home and neighbourhood; eg find 7, 17 and 27 on letterboxes
- count forwards and backwards starting with different numbers (eg 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, then back again)
- make patterns when counting forwards and backwards (eg "5, 10, 15, 20 then 20, 15, 10, 5 and 30, 40, 50, 60 or 12, 14, 16, 18, …")
- do addition and subtraction problems by counting forwards or backwards in their heads (eg 8 + 4, 16 – 3)
- count the number of poi in a kapa haka performance learn their ‘ten and...’ facts (eg 10 + 4, 10 + 7) double and halve numbers to 20 (eg 7 + 7 is 14, half of 14 is 7).
Here's a tip - being positive about mathematics is really important for your child’s learning – even if you didn’t enjoy it or do well at it yourself at school.
Use easy, everyday activities
Involve your child in:
- sorting (washing, odd socks, toys, cans) while tidying up
- telling you what their favourite things are – food, sport, colour reading - notice and talk about numbers.
- ask questions about the pictures like "how many birds are there?”
- a shape and number search together wherever you are, like numbers of shoes, shapes of doors and windows.
Here's a tip - mathematics is an important part of everyday life and there are lots of ways you can make it fun for your child.
For wet afternoons/school holidays/weekends
Get together with your child and:
- use mathematics words during play (treasure hunts, obstacle courses, building huts) - "under', "over", 'between", 'around", "behind", "up", "down', "heavy", "light', 'round", "your turn next","before", "after", "left" and "right", "square", "triangle" – you can use your first language
- play with big cardboard boxes using words like "inside", "outside"
- play games and do puzzles; eg jigsaws, "I spy something that is longer, bigger, smaller than..."
- do water play using different shaped containers and measuring cups
- bake – talk to your child about the recipe/ingredients and how many pieces you need to feed everyone
- dance to music and sing/clap to favourite songs make and play stick games with tī rākau or newspaper rolls play with a pack of cards - make up addition and subtraction problems using numbers to 20 look at a calendar – "how many days/weeks until an event?", "how many days in the month?", "how many weekends?".
- Encourage your child to look for patterns.
Here's a tip - the way your child is learning to solve mathematics problems may be different from when you were at school. Get them to show you how they do it and support them in their learning.