Math Kids: 5 ways to raise them with everyday activities
Raising Math kids can be fun, rewarding and can actually start early on and right at home! Math is often viewed as being difficult, uncool and even outright boring. However, Math skills are extremely important for vital disciplines like Engineering, Finance and Data Science. In this article, we discuss 5 ways in which you can impart Math to kids using fun, everyday activities. These activities will foster your kids Math skills and will turn them into true Math kids.
1. Math in the Kitchen
Cooking is a fun and relaxing activity and several parents use it as a bonding activity with their kids. As you cook and bake with your kids, you can impart Math skills by teaching kids to count fruits/vegetables or to measure ingredients for recipes. As they observe cooking they’ll slowly understand quantities and eventually the different metrics that are used for measurement.
2. Fun with Ages
As kids begin to tell their ages, it is a lot of fun to have them make up puzzles to let others find their age. Younger kids would love to find out when they’ll get to middle school, high school and so on.
3. Money is really Math
Kids certainly enjoy buying toys and games. As you indulge them with presents, this activity can be a fun way to introduce the Math behind money. Young kids can run a store with their toys and can use fake money to trade.
A weekly trip to the grocery store is a great time to discuss prices, calculate the total cost of the weekly purchase and gently also talk about budgeting and bills.
4. Time and Math
Young kids will love to learn to tell the time and this phase is great to expand on this activity and teach them more Math. You can ask them questions like “how much more time until you get to bed/have lunch/have dinner”?
Time can also be used to teach rounding and how it is different for time and money.
5. Math on the go
Are you planning a long drive or a vacation that includes a long road trip? If you answered yes, here is your chance to try out impromptu Math activities with your kids. Typical road trips with families may involve playing games, puzzles, listening to music, chatting, watching shows on your tablet or other screens and so on.
In addition to all these activities, you can try counting yellow cars that you pass by. If this sounds like fun, you can increase the complexity of the game by taking away points for every white truck and so on.
Kids will also enjoy learning about the distance to the destination, and you can make them estimate when you’ll get there by using an average speed.
