You can do math with your child every day. Situations pop up all the time. Taking advantage of the mathematics in everyday situations allows you to interact with your child in fun ways, and to focus on his/her math thinking and understanding.
When you think about fun activities to explore, keep these ideas in mind. Good activities can:
- be familiar,
- be done in short periods of time,
- be repeatable (i.e. they can be done over and over to provide practice),
- be in the form of games (which can also be played repeatedly to provide practice), and
- require few tools or supplies, if any.
Games are one way to engage your child in mathematical thinking. Games provide meaningful practice whether they are played at home or in school.
Here are a few widely recognized games that encourage mathematical thinking:- Checkers
- Card Games: Uno, Go Fish, SET
- Chess
- Dominoes
- Tangrams
- Mancala
- Mastermind