Mathematics Made Fun : Engaging Activities to Foster Early NumeracySkills in Children

Mathematics is a complicated subject. Unlike other subjects, you can't

use the memorisation technique in maths and that is why young

students may have to make strenuous efforts to understand it. So the

question is: How can we foster early numeracy skills in children so that

they don't find mathematics complicated? Well here are few things that

you should read that might help children get familiar with numbers in

their daily lives:

1. Count objects in every day context :

If children develop a habit of counting things around them, they'll

eventually develop an interest in mathematics. Subtraction, Addition and

multiplication might look interesting. Playing board games that involve

counting or listening to songs that have numbers as there lyrics is also

another great idea.

2. Identifying shapes around : When we look around we see different

shapes, but children don't really focus on them. Shapes are another

important start topic of maths. If we ask children to observe around and

identify shapes, they would eventually find it interesting as a topic in

math.

3. Measurements and Comparisons :

Introducing children the concept of measurement ( length, weight,

capacity) and engaging them with activities to practice comparing and

ordering objects by size can help as well. Measuring with non-standard

units and performing fun experiments to explore measurement in

everyday life can make the measurement topic of mathematics simple.

Involving children in cooking or grocery shopping activities allows them

to apply and reinforce concepts such as measurement, counting, and

estimation.

4. Fun math apps

If you look up for apps that can help your children with a subject like

math, you would be surprised to see a number of them. These apps

allow students to study in edutainment. Children look up for

entertainment in everything and when they don't find it in a subject like

mathematics, they end up getting bored and avoiding it. Therefore, these apps are perfect for children specifically for a subject like math.

All of this can go a long way in encouraging a healthy relationship with mathematics as a subject and can go even further to help applying it to the real and practical world!

Article written by Medha

Published by Nandini