5 Tips on helping Your Child in Maths

1. Use counters.

These could be anything that you are using at the time you want to count with your child (eg biscuits, sweets, pens etc).

Also Cuisenaire Rods are excellent. These are designed specially for helping young learners to count. For a young child it is helpful to have objects to count. This will help them to keep track of their counting and is a prerequisite to developing mental maths skills (ie doing simple sums in their head without pen and paper).

2. Make it part of everyday life

 Whether you are eating cereal or chopping carrots, any of these activities can be used in practising maths. 

3.Rote learning- 

Singing or reciting together up to twenty and backwards (later up to a hundred). Time tables is often learnt by repeating it over and over.

4. Colouring In Shapes and numbers. 

Children usually enjoy colouring in and a simple Maths workbook will provide many opportunities for this. 

Sometimes using a workbook which is a step easier than the stage your child is at will help build up its confidence. it will also help consolidate early numbers skills that are so important to be competent at maths later on.

5. Discuss Strategies

Try and find out how they are working out their sums by discussing it with them. Introduce different ways to do the same sum. Get them thinking.

Finally, always give lots of praise!!