BUILDING BLOCKS: KEEP YOUR CHILD’S MATH FOUNDATION STEADY Building a solid mathematical foundation on which your children can stand is an important job—even for mathematically challenged parents! Luckily, instilling in your children a love for numbers is easy. All it takes is a little creativity and a willingness to turn everyday places into living, breathing classrooms. At Home Your home can be the perfect place to teach your child about simple concepts, such as addition and subtraction or odd and even numbers. Try these ideas and turn your house into a virtual math lab: Comparison Cooking: Let your child participate in the kitchen while you’re cooking dinner. Ask her to compare measurements in the kitchen (Which glass has more water?) and help her practice by using different shaped bowls and containers that hold the same amounts of ingredients. This activity will help your child to compare sizes, shapes and dimensions. Measuring Success: When you’re preparing a meal, ask your child to dole out ingredients in separate but equal parts to teach her basic fractions. If you need a cup of water, fill a one-third cup container and let your child pour it into a larger measuring cup, repeating the process until the cup is full. Now she can understand that it takes three thirds to make one whole. News You Can Use: When you’re reading the morning paper, search the paper with your child for temperatures, grocery coupons and advertisements. Cut the numbers out and make a counting book. Then compare the numbers and ask questions such as which is higher and lower, which is cheaper and more expensive. This exercise helps children recognize numbers around them and encourages them to think about values and trends. On the Go Parenting often does not afford the luxury of sitting still. Use driving time and running errands to teach your children how to look for math in the world around them. Here are just a few places you can find math lessons lurking: The Outdoors: Take a walk with your child and look for symmetry in leaves, count the number of clouds in the sky and sort the numbers in neighbors’ addresses. On the Road: When driving, have your child look for numbers on the road. Turn the experience into a game. Find numbers on license plates, road signs and store fronts. Make a chart numbered one through 50 and have your child write down where he sees each number. The goal should be to fill up as much of the chart as possible, teaching him number recognition, counting and even honing his writing skills. At the Store: When doing your grocery shopping, use the store as a place to teach children about numbers and shapes. Tell them that a can, for instance, is a cylinder and have them look for other cylinders throughout the store. Use the produce scale to teach them about quantities, and when you pay, help them count out the change.