How Your Child Can Learn to Love Math
May 30, 2023
Math can be a daunting subject for young learners and the fear they had in them can hinder their mathematical development. Encourage children to have an open mind to learn math as math is all around us and applies in various aspects of our life.
By addressing their learning needs at a young age, parents can help them avoid experiencing anxiety when being introduced to math, or even develop a fear for the subject in later years. Here are some tips that we find useful.
Parents do, naturally or unknowingly, help their young children to relate to numbers – just like for ABC – in everyday life and acquire basic number sense. Such as counting the number of flowers on a plant, birds in the sky or apples in the bag that mummy has bought. Engaging children through these activities, they will be more receptive to learning math skills and also develop a positive association with math.
Besides having a nurturing home environment, it is important that children have a conducive and positive learning environment in class as well. The learning place sets the foundation for children to explore, experiment and develop deeper understanding of math concepts.
For young children, interactive hands-on approach to learning numbers and math can be fun and enjoyable. Utilising games, puzzles and manipulatives help to make abstract concepts more tangible and enjoyable where they are able to recognise patterns. This promotes an overall engagement and motivation in the subject, allowing them to feel more confident.
Children using tactile tools to understand basic fractions
For example, a simple tool such as the abacus can help a child to visualise quantities with the beads, which also makes abstract concepts more concrete and tangible. With the beads providing visual representation, the child can more easily grasp the concept of tens, hundreds, and thousands, making complex calculations less intimidating.
However, parents still have an important role to play by encouraging their children to practice regularly to build up their mathematical skills and confidence.
Abacus is an effective tool to perform calculations and enhance computational fluency.
For a start, they can take advantage of the “Abacus and Mental Arithmetic” programme available at Crestar Learning Centre. It has been providing a supportive environment, engaging teaching methods, and effective tool for children to perform calculations and enhance their computational fluency for more than 30 years.
Furthermore, its hands-on approach and engaging curriculum offers a powerful solution to help young learners develop a strong mathematical foundation for life.
