Your daily newspaper can become a math textbook that changes daily. With your child, find 2 and 3 digit numbers to read, depending on ability level. Younger children can count items shown in the paper. Older children can add the prices listed in advertisements.
A fun activity is to give your child a pretend amount of money. The child searches the newspaper to find all the things he can buy with that amount of money. He can also figure out the amount of change he will receive. With holidays coming, this could become a real activity as she plans on the gifts she would like to buy family and friends.
Story problems often cause difficulty in math. Usually the trouble is in choosing the right math operation, addition
Math in early grades includes shapes. Children can relate to and understand shapes if they can see them in their every day world. Help your child find shapes around your home. Start with the plain shapes, such as rectangle, triangle, and circle. Then move on to solid shapes, such as cyclinder, cone, or sphere. Ask you child "What shape is the picture frame?" "Can you find a circle?" (clock, plates, etc.) Food cans are cylinders; Christmas trees are cones, balls are spheres, etc. Play "I Spy" with your child using shapes as clues. The more practice your child has in seeing the shapes in his world, the easier it will be to see them in his math book.
Help your young child with math as you set the dinner table. Ask questions such as "If we put two forks at Daddy's plate and two forks on the meat plate, how many forks do we have on the table?" Make math a game by adding the items you will have for dinner. You can also use this in subtraction while you are eating. "I have 15 beans, if I eat 6 of them, how many are left?"
While you and your child are reading the TV guide, work on math skills too. Ask your child to show you where the hands will be on the clock when it is time for a favorite show. A more advanced skill would be for your child to tell you how long it will be until the show comes on. If it is 5:30 now and the favorite show comes on at 7:00, how long will that be from now? Do we have enough time to . . . take a bath, eat dinner, do homework, etc. Show your child how to see how long the show will last. How long will it be after the show is over before bath or bedtime? Children like to ask questions but they also like to find answers. Remember, make it a game for more enjoyment.
Seeing shapes in their daily lives helps young children with geometry concepts. Talk to your kindergarten and first grade child about flat or plane shapes found around the home. At this age, they learn about triangles, circles, squares, and other flat shapes. In second grade, your child begins to learn about the solid figures such as cylinders, cubes, cones, and spheres. Point out to your child that while a ball is in a circle shape it is acutally called a sphere. Have a shape hunt in the kitchen. Cans, glasses, etc. are cylinders, many bowls are hemispheres, and boxes are rectangular prisms. Shapes are easy to find around the house.
The weather reports listed in your daily newspaper can provide a wealth of learning. Make a chart listing the high temperatures of 4 or 5 cities you or your child might find interesting. Check the temperatures daily for a week recording them on the chart. Help your child compare them. Which city had the highest temperatures? Which city had the lowest? What was the difference between the two? Add the kind of weather each day with pictures of clouds or sun or using the words. How many days did it rain? How many days could you play outside? Using charts and maps is an important skill for all ages. Extend this activity by finding out information about the chosen cities.