Three unconventional ways to develop your child’s math skills

It is alarming how much money well-meaning parents spend on improving their young children’s math when all you need to do is give your child simple tasks to perform at home.

Western Cape based math teacher, Annerien Potgieter (BSc Mathematics) found in her 12 years experience as a maths teacher that knowing numbers and how to count is not the same as grasping the concept behind numbers.

“Just because a child can count to 100 does not mean he or she understands what it means,” said Potgieter.

She said a child that can count may for instance not be able to match a number to a card with the corresponding number of dots on it.

“Children have to experience three dimensional math exercises involving handling objects first before moving on to two dimensional applications and books.”

Everyday real-life things that a child can see, feel, and hear form the foundation of a child’s mathematical development.

Three easy activities that can help your child develop his or her full mathematical potential:

1. In the kitchen, let your child measure the ingredients when baking. Ask your child to fetch a cup of flour, two eggs or half a cup of sugar.

2. Let your child set the table. Tell your child how many places to set and let him or her work out how many place mats, forks, knives, spoons and glasses to put on the table.

3. Let your child play with building blocks and toys of various shapes like squares, circles and triangles, that he or she can see and feel, rather than computer games.

Potgieter said teens who battle with maths should not be forced to take the subject in high school because that did more harm than good, lowering their self-esteem and confidence.

“Do not be disheartened if your child is not the next Einstein. There are seven different types of intelligence and maths is only one of them.”

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