Helping You to Help Your Children

10 Top Quick Tips for Numeracy (download blow):

These tips are designed to help parents develop a
positive attitude towards numeracy
for their primary school children

ZooBooKoo has many years experience
researching and designing educational toys and games

1. Get real !
2. Number line
3. Number bonds
4. Times tables
5. Activity place mats
6. Dice games
7. Think in 10s
8. Height chart
9. Pocket money
10. Maths for parents

1. Get real !
From a young age and at every opportunity encourage your child to count
out loud: eg apples in the shop. Build up to working out how many items
you need to buy : eg if there are four in your family, and you will each eat
two apples in a week, how many do you need for the week? Extend this to
working out how many miles to go when travelling and other every day
situations (more ideas below)

2. Number line
This is a line with numbers – usually to 20 to begin, continuing higher in
schools. It visually demonstrates to the child increasing and decreasing
quantities. Many of us learn visually. Learn to use it with your child.
Make your own on a large sheet of paper – it could be a colourful snake, a
long scarf etc, and work through lots of examples saying if you start on 6
and add 2 how many do we have. Try subtracting too.

3. Number bonds
These are as vital in the early days as the times tables are later. They
form a building block for the harder sums. See below for a useful list of
number bonds for various ages. Ensure your children know their number
bonds by heart

4. Times tables
Probably the most important building block in a child’s numeric
development. It is a key stone to all other mathematical challenges, not to
mention incredibly useful in real life. Listen the CD in the car, chant them,
sing them, forwards, backwards, test each other, practice the easy ones
they may have forgotten. Make it second nature for them – this is a gift for
life

5. Activity place mats
Extend meal and snack times into useful together time. Before the meal
and after you can have fun with write-on wipe off activity maths mats –
available for all ages. There are even some Magic Mats which have
invisible answers that the children can reveal by rubbing a magic box with
their finger (see below for details). This can buy you valuable time to
prepare dinner!

6. Dice games
Keep a dice game in your bag for those ‘waiting’ moments in restaurants
or at the doctors. Many are great fun and are wonderful for reluctant
mathematicians (education by stealth). Try Demon Dice or Diva Dice

7. Think in 10s
Think in 10s. You may do this instinctively but if not then start now. So 22
plus 13 is 22 plus 10 plus 3. Or 58 minus 39 is 58 minus 40 plus 1. It is
so much easier to take away or add quickly in 10s and then add or minus
the single digits. Practise this with your child to do this

8. Height chart
Run a height chart at home. Make or buy one. Discuss growth, working
out the amount grown and the differences between siblings and parents.
Ask relatives and friends to be measured. Great fun!

9. Pocket money
When your child is of an age where you feel they can have (or preferably
earn through chores) pocket money, run a points system. Points are
gained through the week for good behaviour, special moments of kindness
or thoughtfulness, tidying up etc and they are lost for poor behaviour,
nastiness etc. Each point is worth so many pennies. 5p is a good starting
place (this will test your mental maths as they get older – imagine 6p per
point!). You can gear the system to arrive at a figure you feel is
reasonable for pocket money. You may need to run a chart to remember
the score!

10. Maths for parents
Many schools and colleges offer various free ‘maths for parents’ courses.
Get involved! This is a great way to understand how and what your child
is learning. It’s not the same as it was back in our day!

Helpful numeracy resources for parents and carers:

• Work sheets for ideas on how to ‘get real’!
o Key Stage 1   Select Download 1
o Key Stage 2   Select Download 2

• Activity place mats
o Magic mats

• Number bonds
o List of number bonds

• Internet games:
o Mental maths
o Maths games
o BBC
o Number line

• Games on the go:
o Dice games
o Travel dominoes
o Card games

• Educational toys and games