5 Ways to Encourage Mathematical Thinking in Your Child Beyond the Classroom

I wonder how you feel about mathematics? Trust me, school days have left many of us feeling ‘unfriendly’ towards mathematics. Remember how it seemed like a shadowy world back then?! Mostly the fear of making a mistake or being slow to get the correct answer may have inhibited us from enjoying each problem & challenge. But in today’s quantitative world, it’s important that kids grow up with a positive attitude towards maths. When we raise our children to believe that they “hate math” or are “bad at math”, we are hampering their possibilities in terms of both Life Skills and the job market. So what’s a Parent to do? Is there a way you can encourage mathematical thinking in your child beyond the classroom?

For many children, their feelings about math change right around fifth grade. It’s either overwhelmingly hard, or frustratingly boring. And that’s where your role as a Parent comes in. So why not utilise opportunities from daily life to enrich your child’s mathematical environment!

You may also like to read “5 Basic Life Skills your Child Must Learn”

Here are some simple ways of encouraging mathematical thinking, which parents and kids can enjoy together.

1. Meal time

Mathematics & meals…sounds odd? But believe it or not, from cooking, serving & setting up the table to ordering food at the restaurant with a budget in hand- there are ample opportunities to encourage the use of numbers, logic and geometry!

• Involve your child in rolling out the dough and cutting out cookies of different shapes. For older kids, make it a bit more interesting by talking about the perimeter, radius etc.
• Place a recipe book in the front and involve your child in measuring quantities accurately. Using weighing scale, clock, timer etc reinforces the skill of reading these numbers and draws on knowledge of decimals.
• Fractional concepts can be developed when cutting the cake or pizza into equal parts.
• For younger kids, talk about the number of plates, napkins and glasses while setting the table.
• Reading the time from clock to know when the dish would be ready not only uses knowledge of time, but also encourages basic number strategies to be practised: The recipe says ˜chill for 30 minutes. It’s 10.50 am now, when will it be ready?
• While eating out, ask your child to give rough estimate of the bill total. Or calculate the service charge that needs to be paid as per the %.

2. Shopping Time

When you’re out grocery shopping, there are plenty of ways to get kids thinking about and exploring maths. Budgeting, comparing prices and calculating change are all skills that can be practiced in real-life situation.

• For young kids it can be simple counting exercises to reinforce early number concepts like: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. We have 5 apples in the bag.
• Another number concept easily practised at the shops is comparison like : Do we have more apples or oranges?
• For older kids, share a fixed budget & ask them to plan their purchases within the set amount. The way kids strategise, compare prices and make their choices is an important life skill. In the process keep throwing challenges like: This coupon gives us 15% off our total bill. How much will we save if our bill is Rs 800?
• Add more fun to this by handing over Rs 100 note and a small shopping list. This would not only develop mathematical thinking but also foster a sense of independence.

3. Laundry time

This basic household job can be a great number loving activity for kids, provided you make it fun! Sorting, counting, estimation- all this can be practiced here.

• As you sort the laundry, ask your child to make a pile of shirts & trousers. Ask him which pile is the bigger (estimation). Together, count how many shirts are there.
• Ask the child to make pairs of socks (Don’t worry if they don’t match! This activity is more about counting than matching)

4. While Traveling

I have spoken abut this earlier how time spent together in the car or generally while travelling as a family can help build several Life Skills in kids like communication & creativity. It’s also a wonderful opportunity to get the grey cells working for your child! From pointing out & reading aloud speed limits signs to planning number of halts in the journey- traveling encourages kids to think about the question and plan a method for finding a solution.

• In the car, ask her how long it will take to travel to your destination based on your speed (remember the speed-distance-time formula?) : If the speed limit is 100km, what is the latest time we can leave to arrive by 4pm?
• Involve them in calculating mileage while getting the tank refuelled: If we’ve used half a tank of gas, when should we refuel?
• Encourage use of paper maps- it’s an interesting way to practise computation skills and develops an interest in map reading
• Stuck in a jam? No problem! Talk about the number of cars in front or behind!

You may also like to read “30 Healthy Travel Snacks for your Baby”

5. In the Garden

Spending time outdoors can give you enough opportunities to harness your child’s enthusiasm and develop math skills at the same time.

• Involve your child in estimating the position while sowing new plants in the kitchen garden or while digging the hole for the plant. The guess and check process is an essential problem-solving strategy.
• Add a few concepts of geometry and multiplication while designing the layout of your vegetable garden.
• Don’t have a green thumb? Don’t worry…simply taking a walk around the park gives children many opportunities to compare (which stone is bigger?), assess (how many steps to the rides?), note similarities and differences (different flowers with varied colours) and categorize (see if you can find some dried leaves). For younger kids you can start with only counting practice (let’s count how many steps until we get to the corner).

You may also like to read “Why the Outdoors is the Best Playground for your Child”

See how Parents can easily use everyday experiences to reinforce and develop mathematical skills and support their child’s learning of this important subject area beyond the classroom.

But what if you have Math phobias yourself? Certainly those dry math worksheets & repetitive homework problems are giving you sleepless nights!

The thought of teaching math can be intimidating, especially for Parents who have math phobias themselves. So through their Play, Others & Downtime approach, Dolphin POD is working towards bringing about a paradigm shift in the way learning and education is seen. They believe that it can be easier when the learning involves colours, music, games and a bit of downtime!

Their age-relevant carefully curated content and methodology based on neuro-scientific methods is aimed at making children smarter, healthier, happier and better equipped to operate in the constantly evolving, ambitious and cohesive society. The activities crafted at Dolphin POD show how learning can be seen from a different lens and blend into routine activities that nurture the essential Life Skills of a child for the 21st century.

Psst…Stop saying that you yourself are bad at math, or hate math…don’t even grumble this while checking the bill at the restaurant! Kids absorb these messages, even if you aren’t directly talking with them.

Go Mommy!