Numeracy Tips

Helping your child feel good about maths 

At a glance

·         Talk positively about maths so your child also values it.

·         Play games with your child, which involve adding dice or numbers, to show them that maths matters.

·         Ask your child how they work out maths problems; it helps build their knowledge and boosts their confidence.

·         Help your child to group objects by asking them to set the table or put the cutlery away correctly.

·         Point out maths in everyday life with your child whenever you can.

Maths expert and parent, Associate Professor Janette Bobis from the University of Sydney, gives her top tips on how young kids can become confident in maths.

Have a positive attitude towards maths

'Many parents are scared of maths or think they just can't do it, but it's the worst thing you can tell your child,' says Janette.

'Parents are just so crucial as role models,' she says.

'When parents tell their children that they themselves can't do it, it means they're communicating messages that it's OK not to be good at maths, which can carry all the way through high school.'

Talk to your child about maths in everyday life

'We go about our everyday lives totally unaware of the maths we're using for so many tasks,' Janette says. Talking to children about how maths is important in their everyday life makes it relevant and real. Some ideas are:

·         cooking in the kitchen (measurement)

·         operating a microwave oven (numbers and counting backwards)

·         stacking containers in the cupboard (shapes)

·         finding a certain house number down the street (counting by twos).

Play games to show you're interested in maths

Playing games that involve cards or dice provides valuable opportunities to show that maths matters and helps them to become better mathematicians, Janette says.

Ask your child to tell you the number of dots on a die each time they throw one during a board game. Eventually they will be able to do this without having to count them. These kinds of activities form the basis of working out number problems in their head. Research shows that