Top Tips for Teaching Your Kids Maths

Maths can feel like quite a daunting subject for children, and even sometimes for adults. It doesn’t come naturally to everyone; some of us are more musically inclined or better with words than with numbers. Regardless, there are lots of simple ways for parents to help their kids become more comfortable with maths, and you don’t have to be great at it yourself to make this happen. Here are some top tips from an independent school in Surrey.

You might also like this post on creating your own interactive preschool maths activity book.

Make it relevant

In order to help your child feel less intimidated by something, try and help them become more familiar with it by making it a part of their everyday life. This is true of maths, which is all around us if we are willing to look for it. For instance, when you go shopping, you have to calculate how much your items are going to come to at the till so you can get your money ready. You also need to know that you are getting the correct amount of change.

Why not get your child to try and figure out these sums to get them used to basic maths skills? When you’re cooking a meal, you could ask your child to help you, as cooking involves a lot of numbers. For instance, they will have to calculate what times each food should go in the oven/on the hob so that everything is finished and ready to serve at roughly the same time. They will also have to measure out the ingredients.

Play games

Another way to show your child that maths isn’t as scary as it first seems is to play some board games. Even something as traditional and simple as Monopoly will teach your child some basic numeracy skills and show them that maths can sometimes be fun.

Give them autonomy

When your child is doing their maths homework, it’s important to let them try and figure out the answers themselves, even if they have asked for your help. If you take over, and do their homework on their behalf, the teachers won’t be able to see which areas your child is struggling with and will therefore not know that they need some extra support.

Ask about resources

You might also want to try contacting the school to see if the teachers have any advice for you. They will have heard of some online resources that your child could use in their own time to continue with their studies. They will also be able to share with you some elements of the curriculum so that you know what to expect in the future.