10 Ways to Raise a Math Whizz (Part 1)

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Eyinade Eweje

For most children, Math is perceived as one of the most daunting subjects because of its complexities. Since children learn best through exploration and discovery, learning Math can be made less abstract and fun. This can be done by capitalizing on their sub-conscious knowledge, skills and experiences to teach them Math from as early as preschool.

Find areas you need to work on:

1. Visual Discrimination

This is a basic mathematical skill which entails being able to identify and understand the difference between one thing and another, as well as draw comparisons. Since math skills are intertwined with language skills, help your child acquire words to describe items; ‘a little girl,’ ‘a big girl.’

Engage in math talk by using simple terms such as ’empty and full’, ‘big and small,’ ‘light and heavy,’ ‘tall and short,’ ‘first and last,’ ‘more and less,’ ‘all or none,’ regularly. Acquiring the use of these words enable toddlers focus on sensory properties in order to differentiate between items.

In addition, talk about groups, sets, and the names of various coins and notes. Illustrate and demonstrate differences in texture such as ‘smooth and rough,’ in tastes – sweet, sour, bitter and so on.

2. Patterns

Ability to figure out the distinct similarities between items is a fundamental theme in math and science. From infancy, introduce games, songs and poems that teach patterns and repetition such as ‘Humpty Dumpty’ which consist of basic units that are repeated.

Make a pattern with blocks of different colours and have your tot repeat the pattern. As he grows older, he’ll learn to create and reproduce complex patterns. Also, point out various patterns in your home and environment and get him to show you even more. Look for patterns in nature, such as rings on a caterpillar, the whorl on a snail shell, things that come in pairs such as eyes, ears, and so on.

3. Sequences

Train your child to identify patterns in events and objects to decipher the order they should take, that is, what follows what. Look for an activity or games that must follow a logical step by step order like arranging a series of picture cards into the logical order to create a story from the beginning to the end. In addition, pause when reading familiar stories to him to ask what happens next, and if you follow a daily routine, see if he can recount it to you in the exact order at the beginning of each day.

4. Series

It entails organizing items using a property of the items, such as size, in a decreasing or increasing order. A toddler that places rings in any random order on a stacking tower shows that he isn’t yet able to arrange things logically from big to small. Facilitate learning this by asking your toddler to place smaller plastics into bigger ones and observe how he fares. Give him crayons or pencils of different heights and tell him to arrange them according to their length, shortest to longest or vice versa.

5. Measurement and Quantities

It involves learning concepts like length, height, width, volume. While a three year old may easily grasp the first three, he would need more practice to understand what volume is. Fill plastic bowls with items such as rice or water. Allow your toddler to play with different sizes of stacking cups by scooping or pouring the rice or water in and out of the cups. Discuss how many scoops of one size it takes to fill another, using words such as more and less.

Using the same bowls, provide various shaped and sized containers. Consider individual-sized milk containers, drinking cups, jugs and tubes. Allow him to explore further by pouring or scooping the ingredients in the bowls into the containers. Ask questions like, ‘Do you think this jug will contain this large quantity of water?’ Probe for the logic behind the answer he supplies.

…to be continued.