World of mathematics can be fascinating for kids!
However, mathematics is better learnt when it becomes a part of children’s general exploration of their world.
Therefore, it should not be regarded as a separate and boring ‘‘subject’’.
Parents as well teachers need to understand
that our own attitudes and feelings about mathematics can influences children’s attitudes.
In this post we will focus on kids cool maths games for ages 3 to 8 years old.
Interesting facts about maths and kids
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Mathematics is a powerful tool
Was there ever a day that you didn’t use maths at all? Mathematics is everywhere! The list is endless from setting an alarm, buying a coffee or a snack to checking your weight or using a TV or your phone , we all use maths on a daily basis. And more importantly, we all want our kids to be able to manage well their financial tasks from taxes to budgeting and investments.
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Mathematics is about knowledge and ways of knowing similarly to science:
If children don’t learn to think about their world or use their minds mathematically and scientifically, they will be in a great disadvantage in their life. They could face challenges in simple daily tasks or greater skills such as leading their own lives and others successfully.
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Mathematics is a powerful and precise form of representation and communication:
Maths enables us to illustrate, interpret, predict and explain. Adults as well as children can use maths as “a means of communication in ways that are concise, powerful and unambiguous” (Cockroft, 1978).
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Children seem to do mathematics “naturally” and learning mathematics begins earlier than we expect:
People assume that learning mathematics begins at school. At preschool there is a great deal of learning that doesn’t look like mathematics at all as Hughes (1986) called it “observable” mathematics. Children’s active exploration of mathematics start understanding shapes, numbers, measurements and so on.
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“Emergent” numeracy:
Kids learn to speak in their mother language without a single lesson. This is what we call “emergent” literacy. In the same way, kids can learn maths without a formal approach. This can take place through immersion, demonstration, expectation, responsibility.
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Practice in non-critical environment:
Encourage kids to “have a go”, but don’t forget that criticism of kids’ efforts can dull their interest in persevering. We can similarly applaud children’s attempts to use numbers without focusing on the mistakes.
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Mathematics is more than “the rules”:
Talking about numbers, shapes, sizes and so on as a part of a pleasant experience. Playfulness, intuition, inventiveness, flexibility, ingenuity, and the ability to respond to the novel and unexpected are all important in promoting and understanding maths.
How will we support kids maths learning?
Reflect on what’s your own history with maths
Either you are a parent or a teacher, you need to reflect on and understand your own maths history. In case your attitude and feelings about maths are negative, they will possibly affect children’s learning.
1. Remember…
Close your eyes and remember a maths experience in school.
Remember your feelings about maths and then your thoughts.
What were your thoughts when you did well or badly?
2. Think of your favourite number.
Why is this your favourite number? Does this number remind you of someone or something specifically?
3. What do you think of number 13?
What’s “the story of 13”? Think about folk stories and beliefs about number 13.
These 3 questions will help you understand your own attitude about maths, but also how people make negative or positive connections to numbers. Reflecting on your own feelings about maths, especially if they are quite negative, will eventually help you support better your children and numeracy learning. After all, children need to explore and learn maths on their own pace. You don’t need to be a top mathematician in order to encourage basic numeracy concepts. Even if you don’t understand something or you make a mistake, be honest to children and they will understand.
Learn about learning
Autonomy and collaboration
Autonomy and collaboration play an important role in kids learning. In other words, kids need to be autonomous, but not alone in this journey. The opposite of autonomy is heteronomy and it means that kids are willing to follow the views and decisions of others. When we simply accept knowledge that is handed to us by others, then we don’t learn how to think and we don’t trust our own thinking. Children need to hear and coordinate different point of views as it is essential for intellectual autonomy. In 1932 first Piaget spoke about personal and intellectual development as an aim of education. Later on, Erickson emphasised on autonomy as an important aspect of developmental progress in 1963. Therefore, we, as parents and teachers, should give children freedom to make choices in order to learn how to make well-judged decisions. At the same time, punishments and rewards are a threat to children’s autonomy. Ideally, we want to have suitable and cool maths games accessible to them and aim to the effects of natural consequences when needed. We should avoid kids being fearful of making mistakes as they wouldn’t be able to explore their world freely and construct their knowledge.
The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
Vygotsky introduced another important idea for teachers, which is “the zone of proximal/potential development”. We accept that every child is different and they all learn on their own pace. In addition, we understand that parents are primary educators for teachers and if they use their observant skills, they will become quite aware of children’s level of development.
Observe children and how they cope with mathematical ideas and problems. For instance,
- skipping games -do children match their jumps to the turn of the rope?-
- pouring milk -do they know when to stop pouring?-
- ducking down to get under a table -do they know how high the table is?-
- counting objects -do they just pretend or they actually know how to count accurately?-
If you know the current level of development of your child, then you can guide and encourage your child to move along to the next level.
HOW??
- Offering hints and suggestions and
- giving time to explore, practise and make decisions again.
Tips:
- If you push too far, they might lose their interest! One step at a time and repetition is crucial.
- ‘Teachable moments’ are moments that children are rested and in good mood. ‘Well-focused’ attention is the best teaching strategy and the disposition to be a mathematics learner.
- Sometimes mistakes are more important than right answers.
- Use the right vocabulary. Words like heavy and light, close and far, long and short, big or small can be important for a child’s learning.
- Remember that clear communication from children about their own mathematics is a long-term goal.
Engage children in kids cool maths games and activities
Mathematics exists only in the mind. Mathematical ideas are not material entities and children need to learn how to think and use their brain. Unfortunately, maths is not something we can buy and offer it to them. Each child has to learn as an individual for example, identifying patterns, discovering relationships between numbers and so on.
Children’s process of learning includes doing, observing, thinking, representing and communicating. In addition, the three ways of knowing includes social, physical and logico-mathematical knowledge and they all happen at the same time. Giving children the opportunity to explore and play with certain resources could be a powerful tool for you in your kids’ mathematical learning. A good learning environment provides an environment appropriate for learning mathematics.
There are links between mathematics, and science, technology and engineering. This is the reason often we talk about STEM activities and toys, as STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
Basic maths ideas for young learners
- Counting (by rote and rationally)
- Comparing (establishing a relationship between objects)
- Sorting & classifying (sorting or forming groups by similar attributes)
- Ordering (arranging in a sequence)
- Patterning (a form of ordering but it contains an element of repetition) & describing patterns (telling what the pattern looks like)
- Shapes (squares, triangles and other rigid shapes)
- Space (includes positions, distance, construction, topological space experience)
- Numbers: cardinal (how many), ordinal (first, second), numbers that label (room 5) and numerals (symbols for numbers)
- Measuring (measurement provides quantitative information about certain familiar aspects of our environment)
Ideas for STEM learning through real life situations
- Maps
- Cooking activities
- Dices, scales, calculators, measuring tapes and rulers
- Water play with different containers (shapes, sizes, colours)
- Discussions about weather
- Using tools and fixing things
- Creating a pattern with objects or toys, for example using rocks or beads for necklaces (white white red,white white red etc)
- Sports and games such as table tennis and bowling
Kids cool maths games that children should have access to
Children are able to construct mathematical learning, when it is meaningful and fun to them.
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Puzzles
Puzzles can combine space awareness, comparison, matching and grouping skills as well as patterns, colours, shapes and number recognition among other skills.
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Games involving a number line
There are games with long line with a central point and a ‘home’ at each end. There is one counter at the centre to begin. For example, the advance version of the game Tug o’ War can lay foundations for negative numbers. This can happen, when you write a number line with negative and positive numbers with chalk on the ground.
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-Simple or not- pathway games
These games are important for numeral recognition. For example, 3D snakes and ladders or giant hopscotch.
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Sequencing games
Children develop sequencing skills, while they are placing things and events in an order. They might use logical thinking or they just create a story. Here is an example of a card sequencing game. In addition, Sequence for kids is a popular game with great reviews and reading is not required to play!
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One-to-one correspondence games
Dominoes or other matching games like 2-pieces puzzles.
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Card games
They could be princess matching card game, gruffalo snap game or flashcards that display numbers, shapes and more. You can include or exclude picture cards or high value cards according to children’s level of development. This card game can even teach fractions!
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Grid games
Magnetic wall-mount Tic Tac Toe -or an outdoor giant Tic Tac Toss– and Bingo are both great grid games. Due to choking hazard bingo is not recommended for young children and it requires adults’ supervision.
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Games with peg boards
Activity pegboards are suitable for little children and older siblings. They can create letters, numbers and other simple shapes. This is a travelling 2-in-1 pegboard and magnetic drawing board. We also take it with us at restaurants!
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Strategy games
Giant 4 in a row or Connect 4 is one of the most simple strategy games for young children. They might start dropping in the disks randomly first. but then they will gradually start to understand that strategy and logical thinking will help them win. Jenga takes fine motor skills, strategy and luck and kids older than 5 or 6 years old can play it. Younger siblings can also use the blocks for different kind of games such as constructions. Chess is the ultimate game of strategy.
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Other cool maths games
From robot toys to experiments! Sudoku is, also, a great game for additions and sums!
You can also find here our post that talks about educational toys for kids to grow with.
Children have a natural tendency to use and learn about numbers.
They are also capable of thinking mathematically from an early age.
At the same time, it has been proved that our own attitudes and feelings about mathematics can influence children’s attitudes.
It’s important for the parents to put their history on the side and
remember that playfulness, creativity and flexibility are important in understanding maths.
Let’s try these kids cool maths games with your children and share below your comments.
