Play is important

You don’t need to become a school teacher to help your kids with math. Kids who are in school already have a teacher. That is not your job. You can help by talking and using numbers when the kids are around, inviting your child into activities you do that use numbers, and encouraging thinking and talking about the world around us. You can help connect the math we do every day with school math.

Little kids don’t need a teacher. They need to play. When they play they learn. You can help by encouraging them to play. You can help by following their play where they want it to go, not by leading it where you want it to go.

Give them lots of things to play with

These things don’t have to cost much. A few plastic tubs from margarine or chip dip in the bath tub can teach kids a lot about bigger and smaller, and about how much different shapes can hold.

Let them sit and watch an ant hill for as long as they want. There will be chances to count ants, to notice that some are bigger or smaller, to notice that some are different colours, and to notice which way they go and how fast or slow they move— many patterns, many things are different, many things are the same. Noticing and finding patterns are math skills.

If your kid isn’t interested in ants, but likes beads, the same kind of math thinking can be done with beavng, counting, noticing, finding patterns. You can follow the kid’s interests, and help learning by asking questions such as: How many? How many big ones? How many red ones? What patterns do you see?