Easy Family Maths Ideas to try at Home

As a parent, you play a crucial role in your child's education, and one subject that often strikes fear into the hearts of many parents is mathematics. However, maths doesn't have to be a source of stress or anxiety. In fact, you can make it an enjoyable and interactive experience for your child right in the comfort of your own home. As this week is Maths Week Scotland, we thought we would write this months My Primary Tutor blog about ways to help teach maths at home.  It will explore some creative and engaging ways to use maths at home with your children, helping them build a strong foundation in this essential subject and might give you some ideas for this half-term holidays too!

Maths in Everyday Life

One of the most effective ways to teach maths is by building it into your daily routines. For example:

Cooking Together: Cooking offers a fantastic opportunity to introduce maths concepts such as measurements, fractions, and conversions. Ask your child to help you measure ingredients or double a recipe, turning the kitchen into a maths classroom.

Food Shopping: Involve your child in food shopping and budgeting. Let them calculate the total cost of items, compare prices, and make decisions about what to buy within a set budget.

Time Management: Teach your child how to read and manage time using analogue clocks and timers. You can turn everyday tasks into time-based challenges.

Maths Games and Puzzles

Learning through play is highly effective, and maths games and puzzles can be both entertaining and educational. Consider the following ideas:

Board Games: Games like Monopoly, Scrabble, and chess are excellent for enhancing maths skills. They involve critical thinking, strategy, and mathematical calculations.

Card Games: Card games such as Uno, Go Fish, or Higher or Lower are great for developing maths skills like counting, addition, and probability.

Puzzle Books: Invest in puzzle books or crosswords that involve maths-related problems. This can be a fun way to engage your child's mind during downtime.

Maths Apps and Online Resources

In today's digital age, there is a plethora of maths apps and websites designed to make learning maths enjoyable. Some popular options include:

BBC bitesize: A great resource for video clips on ways to teach different elements of maths with follow up tasks and quizzes to try to check understanding.

Prodigy: A role-playing maths game that adapts to your child's skill level, keeping them challenged and motivated.

Topmarks: A collection of free online games and activities that teach maths concepts in a fun way.

Maths Projects and Crafts

Encourage your child's creativity while reinforcing maths skills by engaging in maths-related arts and crafts:

DIY Geometry: Create geometric shapes using craft materials like lolly sticks and playdough. Discuss the properties of each shape as you build.

Money Matters: Teach your child about currency by creating a homemade shop where they can "buy" and "sell" items using play money.

Maths Art: Explore the world of tessellations or symmetry by making maths-inspired art. This not only enhances artistic skills but also reinforces mathematical concepts.

Mathematics doesn't have to be a daunting subject for your child. By incorporating maths into everyday life, playing maths games, exploring digital resources, and engaging in maths-related projects and crafts, you can help your child develop a strong foundation in maths while having fun together. Remember that the key is to make learning enjoyable and relevant to your child's interests and daily experiences.  If however, you feel your child could benefit from more input then get in touch and let My Primary Tutor help you!  Our experienced tutors can make learning maths easy and help to build your child's confidence in maths in our fun and engaging online sessions.  Get in touch with us today!

At My Primary and Secondary Tutor we provide expert one-to-one and group tuition for pupils across Scotland, the wider UK and online, supporting children from P1 to S6 and Key Stage 1 to GCSE. Our experienced fully qualified teachers are specialists in both the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence and the English National Curriculum, helping pupils who are struggling, have gaps in learning or want to build confidence across a wide range of subjects. We offer tailored support in English, maths, history, geography, physics, modern studies, accounting, economics, business, IT and our unique Emotions First programme designed to nurture children’s emotional wellbeing alongside academic progress. Parents trust our team of tutors to deliver high-quality professional tuition that meets every learner’s needs. Find out more and book a session by emailing karen@myprimaryandsecondarytutor.com or completing our contact us form.