Teaching math skills to young children is never easy. If young children are behind on math, it becomes difficult for them to catch up in the future. It’s your job as a teacher to make sure that they’re ready for the difficult math classes that they’ll be taking in the future (and future jobs that require math skills).
But how can you keep them interested when math isn’t as fun as other subjects? We have a few ideas. Keep reading to learn all about how to teach math skills in fun ways.
1. Play Games
This is one of the easiest ways to make math fun for children so they can stay engaged. When you teach early math skills, get on the student’s level by playing games with them.
There are plenty of games online and math apps for tablets that are great for learning new basic math skills. Most children are already familiar with playing on the computer or tablet, so this will be an easy transition for them. They might not even realize that they’re learning!
You can even use some of your students’ favorite non-math-related games to teach them. For example, if you were to use Pokémon as a math tool, you could use evolution to start a math problem.
Let’s say that the Pokémon Charmander evolves at level 16. Ask your students how many levels it has to gain if it’s already at level 7. What about if you wanted it to evolve to its final form at level 36?
This might seem silly, but it’s a great way to keep children engaged.
2. Use Physical Objects
If children are struggling to understand math on paper, try using physical objects paired with visual aids (take a look at great visual aids for math here) to help them.
For example, give the students a bag of marbles. Set 2 marbles aside and leave the rest. If you were to multiply 2×4, how many marbles would be set aside?
Students can take sets of 2 marbles and add them to the original 2 marbles until there are 4 total pairs. When the students count the marbles, they’ll discover that 2×4=8.
3. Try Real-Life Examples
Real-life examples are helpful when you’re trying to teach math skills by grade. Older students start to understand how math applies to their own lives, and they may feel more engaged if you’re able to teach it in that way.
Start with something simple, like pizza. If you’re buying pizza for 20 students and each student wants 2 pieces each, how many pizzas do you have to buy if each pizza has 8 slices?
To make it more complicated, add in money. If each pizza costs 12 dollars, how much will you be spending on pizza?
It’s best to finish this lesson with a pizza party if it’s within your budget!
Math Skills Can Be Fun
Teaching math skills to young children can be frustrating if you don’t know how to make it fun. Try one (or all) of these suggestions to engage your students and help them learn math!
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