5 Ways To Make Your Children Fall In Love With Mathematics

“Math is tough. Math is boring. I hate Math.” Such statements are pretty common in the households these days. How many times have you heard of such statements or something similar from your children while they are in the midst of their math homework? If your answer is “zero”, you are lucky indeed which is pretty uncommon. But if you are not, there are certain ways to induce the math love in children that’ll encourage them to get back to the problem again and again even if they fail on their first or second or third attempt. This article will throw light on 7 such ways to induce a passion for mathematics in children. Let’s go through them without much ado.

Play and Learn

Yeah, we still believe in that age old kindergarten technique of education and want to incorporate the same in the field of mathematics in a sophisticated way. This is the best way in our opinion to ignite the passion for math in children because any form of engagement in sports/games is fun and if that same sport/game incorporates various principles of learning, children will not even realize that they are actually learning while they are playing. So how can you create a playful environment in your class or your house? Let’s see.

• Tactile blocks– Various game kits featuring building blocks are available in the market that provides an effective and fun math education. For example- legos, pattern blocks, keva planks, and tangrams. All such building blocks can promote an affinity to mathematics because the learning experience becomes extremely gratifying.
• Pen and paper games- It’s a simple and enthralling way to engage in mathematics. The beautiful thing is that solving sums with a definite game objective brings a sense of purpose in players. Plus these games might not cost you a dime. The sums don’t seem like a burden anymore and are just seen to be a hurdle that needs to be jumped successfully to get the point. Examples are- Aggression, Sink that Ship etc.
• Apps– Incorporating math apps on smartphones and tabs provide effective and gratifying math education through games and quizzes. The colorful interface along with the game play is capable enough of catching the attention of children. Some examples of such apps can be found here.

Developing a Math perspective

Developing a math perspective is an effective way to make your children fall in love with mathematics. The best way to do that is to take various examples from your daily life and point out the mathematics involved in the same. Say, for example, you are in a shopping mall with your children. You may ask your children to help you out in calculation by applying the prescribed discount and come to a result. You might also involve yourself in that activity because that involvement makes it more fun from the point of view of children.

Try to adopt the concept that learning takes some time

The learning process is pretty time-consuming and you must keep something in mind that every child takes his/her own time in understanding specific things. This is not an examination and hence, there should be no time limit. Allow your child to learn in his/her own time and never point out this fact that another child is more effective in learning the same thing and can do it in much less time. Develop your mentality in this manner if your child is struggling with a specific sum-

S/He is probably not smart enough. (✘)

S/He is trying really hard and will surely succeed. (✔)

Blend art with Mathematics

This is an impressive way to develop an affinity to mathematics. Blending art with math provides hands-on math lessons. The entire experience is pretty gratifying. A simple example can be origami. Origami’s pretty engaging and is quite fun to learn. Through origami, one can make various geometrical figures that are immensely beneficial in learning various geometric concepts. This form of lesson is very tactile. The abstract figures of geometry can be brought to life through origami.

Encourage mental maths

It’s an enthralling tactic to ignite the passion for mathematics in children. It will also help the child to reduce the number of calculation errors in their sums and will also fasten up their ability to operate with numbers. It’s undoubtedly a pretty impressive tactic.

Mathematics is considered the bedrock of science and hence is of utmost importance in shaping a child’s career. It should always be kept in mind that this subject is not taught in a procedure-oriented way. The underlying principles need to be cleared for a better performance in the subject. The different ways mentioned above can definitely ignite a passion for math in students resulting in an improved performance. Along with that after-school online math tutorials can also be pretty beneficial for students. We would like to sign off for the time being. Hope you had a good read. Ciao!