At school maths can be a tricky subject for many kids to understand and practicing it at home is the last thing on their minds, especially when they’ve spent the afternoon learning algebra. Here at Tutor Doctor we know how important it is to practice learning outside of school, especially with topics that are a little bit more difficult to understand. We’ve come up with a whole bunch of easy ways that you can practice maths at home with your children and have some fun with numbers!
Estimate the cost of your weekly food shop
Get your kids involved in the weekly food shop by encouraging them to estimate the cost of your all of the items in your trolley. It is a really fun way to get your kids counting, adding up, but most importantly having some fun with maths! What’s great about this idea is that you can encourage your children to take part anywhere. If you’re going out for lunch- why not get them to estimate the bill, or if it’s time to give out their weekly lunch money- see if they can work out how much lunch allowance they will get for the whole month.
Baking/Cooking
Maths is hidden is so many different activities- even cooking and baking. Why not get your kids to weigh out and measure the ingredients next time you bake a batch of brownies or cook a roast dinner? It’s a super easy way to familiarise them with counting, different measurements and timings. We bet they won’t even realise they’re practicing maths because they’ll be having too much fun getting messy and waiting for the yummy results!
Real life problem solving using maths
There’s no better way for your kids to practice maths at home than by solving real life problems. Here are just a few ideas of problems you might want to encourage them to tackle.
- Work out how long your child will need to save their allowance in order to buy a particular item
- Determine the number of miles driven in X hours
- How long it will take to drive home going X mph?
Everyday activities
There are loads of easy everyday activities that you can practice with your kids on a daily basis.
- Practicing times tables – check with your child or their teacher/tutor which times tables you could help them with. There are quite a few fun times tables posters that are always a great addition to a bedroom wall!
- Telling the time using digital and analogue clocks
- Making and organising packed lunches, including equal sharing of fruit, biscuits, sandwiches and drinks.
- More helping at the supermarket! Get the kids to weigh out your fruit and veggies. You could even ask them to help you find and compare prices of items such as cereal or jam to help you pick the ones that are the best value for money!
Maths Apps
We know parents can get busy too, so if you don’t have a lot of free time, there are some wonderful apps that your children can use to help them practice their maths skills and have fun at the same time. Have a read of some of the learning apps we recommend here.
How can Tutor Doctor help?
If you find that your child is struggling with maths more than they should be, perhaps a private tutor would be beneficial.
Here at Tutor Doctor we offer an affordable, one-to-one home tutoring service that works around you. We provide all of our students with an education that is tailored to suit their academic abilities, learning style and personality. Our aim is to help your child reach their goals and beyond.
For more information about our programmes click here.
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