Math Mania

Who says that math has to be boring? Here are six sure-fire strategies for turning kids into math maniacs.

Encourage your kids to start a collection. It doesn’t matter whether it’s buttons, bugs, bottle caps, baseball cards, or something else entirely. Starting a collection allows your child to practice all kinds of important skills that will serve him well in the math trenches—skills like sorting, classifying, and—of course—counting.

Get your kid hooked on cooking. Cooking is sheer magic to your average kid: you pour a bunch of ingredients together, pop everything into the oven, and—voila!—you end up with a batch of cookies or something equally yummy a short time later. Parents also recognize its magical powers: it’s an activity that keeps kids happy and entertained and that gives kids’ math and reading skills a workout at the same time. So if you’re eager to give your child a chance to practice her measuring skills (yet another important mathematical building block), plan to hit the kitchen with your kid on a regular basis.

Plan a family games night. Board games like Monopoly® and Dominoes and card games like Crazy Eights and Go Fish may seem like too much fun to be educational, but you’re actually giving your kids an important opportunity to give their math skills a workout when you’re charging them rent for landing on Boardwalk or telling them to “Go fish.” So why not schedule a family games night sometime soon?

Play with patterns. Kids who learn to recognize and manipulate patterns find it a lot easier to master the basics of mathematics than their less pattern-savvy peers, which is why working with patterns is an important part of most preschool curriculums. You can encourage pattern play by giving your child a chance to experiment with patterns: for example, making necklaces out of wooden or plastic beads or pointing out the patterns that we encounter in everyday life.

Make models. Whether your child decides to build a bridge out of popsicle sticks, a tower out of toothpicks, or a house out of LEGO®, he’ll give his math skills a workout by practicing his model-making skills. Older kids may enjoy drawing up some rough blueprints for more complex models first—yet another activity that’s terrific for developing your child’s math brain.

Take a hike—literally. Take your kids on a “math walk” and point out examples of bridges, skyscrapers, and other architectural feats that were accomplished thanks to math. Then make a pit stop at the library or a bookstore so that you can pick up a book that explains how bridges and skyscrapers are constructed—the perfect bedtime reading after a day of math adventuring!