Fear of math is not something that babies are born with, but is actually learned over time. The challenge for parents will be to overcome their own tendencies to dislike math and present brave faces to their children.
Rest assured, the task of showing enthusiasm toward math is not as difficult as it sounds. Luckily, there are numbers, shapes, and patterns to be found in almost every conceivable activity that parents and children do together. Parents can help teach their children early math skills by playing store bought math games or the homemade ones below, and perhaps bring the pleasure back to a subject that has ghastly memories associated with it.
Counting Game: How Many Fruits in the Salad?
What better way to introduce the notion of "tens" than to create a healthy snack together? Make a fruit salad by cutting up soft fruits such as bananas and melon with a safety or dull butter knife. Then, cut a few red and green grapes in half. Once the fruit has been prepared, the children can take turns adding ten pieces of each fruit to a medium bowl until there are a total of 100 pieces.
This activity will also work for regular vegetable salads or even trail mix. Use creative ingredients such as nuts, popcorn, mini marshmallows, yogurt-covered raisins, and chocolate chips, or check out this tropical fruit salad recipe using shredded coconut and lime juice.
Measuring Game: Comparing Sizes of Clay Snakes
Usually the first recognizable object that kids will model out of clay is a snake, and this will be the perfect opportunity to do some measuring. (For very young children, measuring might be more successful with blocks rather than a ruler.)
Asking questions such as "How many blocks long is that snake?" or "Can you make a snake that is 5 blocks long?" will get children to think about comparing sizes and introduce concepts of long, longer, and longest. A harder challenge might be to make the longest possible snake out of the clay and then measure it.
Shape Game: Going on a Shape Hunt
Shapes can be found anywhere, such as in the house or yard, at a playground, or even at the mall. For a shape hunt, parents can provide a list of drawn shapes to their children, who then try to find as many of the shapes listed as possible.
At home, sticky notes can be used to mark shapes that have already been counted. A limit can be set on the number of shapes to be found, or the game can be turned into a timed contest to see who can find highest number of shapes. Bonus points can be awarded when children can figure out how many shapes they have found in total.
Not all children will grow up to be math geniuses, but getting a head start when they are young will provide them with a huge confidence boost and some momentum too. Proud parents can then sit back and watch as their children enter preschool already knowing how to count to 100.
See "Spooky Halloween Math Games" for more creative preschool math ideas for the Halloween season! For science ideas, see "Fun Science Activities for Preschoolers".
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