Summer Math Fun for Preschoolers & Kindergarteners

 

Invitee Post by Charity Hawkins, writer of The Homeschool Experiment

Pedagogy math to young children is like shooting fish in a barrel. No worksheets,  flashcards or apps are required. All that is required is a willing adult who volition assist explain how the world works to these inquiring trivial minds.

Think of it this fashion: anything with numbers is math.Here are some piece of cake ways to teach math concepts  to your young children this summertime.

Money –I like to have the kids count out coins or dollars for ice cream. Preschoolers tin sort the leftover coins into dime and penny towers, learn names, and count the number of coins. Kindergarteners can start to larn how much each money is worth. You lot can also talk about the presidents on the coins.They're learning thatcoin buys things (and I similar to mention that information technology takespiece of work to earn money) andeach coin has a name.

Weights – At the grocery shop your kid tin aid weigh peaches or tomatoes. You can say, "If one peach weighs one pound, how much do you think three peaches will weigh?" The old-fashioned (not-digital) scales are best for this and then your child can run across the needle move.You are just reinforcing that you measure how heavy things are withpounds.

Calendar– As y'all count downward days until vacation or a altogether, you can testify your child the calendar. Assist them acquire the days of the week (we sing a little song) and the months of the twelvemonth (nosotros fabricated up a vocal for that likewise). Preschoolers may merely empathize that we wait at a agenda to come across what 24-hour interval it is. Older children can count down days, look at the dates, or call back about how many months until their birthday.You're pedagogy thatbig amounts of time are measured indays and months.(Years probably won't make sense until they're older.)

Time –When your kid asks what time it is, assistance them acquire how to tell time. Preschoolers can practice recognizing the numerals on the clock and learning nearly morning, afternoon, night time. Kindergarteners tin can start to acquire the difference between the hour and minute hand and tell time to the hour. Our girl likes to proclaim, "Eight o'clock and all is well!"—an idea from her math curriculum. (Telling time to the half or quarter hour can wait until get-go or 2nd grade.)Yous're teaching thatpocket-size amounts of time are measured inhours and minutes.

Measurement – You can mensurate items with non-standard measurements like shoes, mitt lengths, or whatsoever is around. How many books long is the tabular array? Older children can learn about inches or meters. ("Feet" is a tricky concept for piffling ones because they tend to imagine their feet!) Y'all can let them play with a small measuring tape (large ones can snap in and hurt niggling fingers, so supervise) and measure things. If you lot call up they can understand, you can explain that 12 inches make up one "measuring foot." I sent my kids out to the backyard with a yardstick to measure the swing I was recovering just to give them a take a chance to measure something. Anytime you demand to measure something (for decorating, backyard piece of work, house projects, etc.), you can invite your kids to join yous. You're teaching the thought that thelength of things is measured withinches, anxiety, and yards.

Dry/Liquid Measurement – The easiest time to talk most this is when y'all're cooking.You lot are teaching words like "cups," "tablespoons," and "teaspoons" equally the kids measure dry or liquid ingredients. You tin can also mention "gallons" of milk or a "pint" of foam. And you can count cookies if you have time in between all the telling them tofinish eating the cookies.

Temperature – If it's hot you can say, "Boy, it's hot! I wonder if it's 100 degrees!" You tin show preschoolers a thermometer and put information technology outside to watch the red go up, then stick information technology in the freezer to watch the red become down. Magic! It's as well fun to await at a colored map of the state (Usa Today often has these, mayhap daily) and wait at where it'due south hot and where  it'south cold. You can play guessing games with older children, ex. "Do you retrieve it'south hotter in Alaska or New Mexico?" and they can practice finding their state.You are education them thatoestrus is measured in degrees.You are too instruction geography and map skills.

Maps & Directions – This is sort of science-y and sort of math-y. If you're going on a holiday, you tin can show your child a nice quondam-fashioned paper map and show them the route. I like to make a color copy, and then darken the road with a marker, so they can follow along. I'll phone call out towns forth the way, "We're getting to Little Rock, who can notice it on the map? Which direction are we going?" Oh, and I ordinarily brand a copy for each child so they're not fighting over the map! (But not to worry, they find plenty of other things to fight about.) You tin teach the four bones directions, and kindergarteners can learn words like "map compass" and "legend."You are pedagogy them thatmaps are used to showdirection and identify.

Shapes & Sizes –As you lot see basic shapes you can teach their names: squares, triangles, ovals, circles and rectangles. Help your kid compare items: minor, medium, large. "Which one of these balls is the biggest?" "Which one of these towers is the tallest? Which one is shortest?"

Counting –Counting is e'er adept. My three-yr-old is counting everything these days: pebbles, potatoes (for half an hour!), animals in books. You tin can assistance preschoolers learn the thought of one-to-one correspondence by touching each particular in a book with their finger as you count. This and starting to recognize numerals (that "8" ways 8 items) gives them a great foundation and prepares them for kindergarten. Kindergarteners tin can start doing simple math problems (ex. Ii strawberries plus two more is four). So many fun things to count all around!

What fun ideas exercise y'all have for teaching math to little ones?

Charity Hawkins is the author ofThe Homeschool Experiment: a novel. She lives, writes, and helps count potatoes in Oklahoma. Facebook/TheHomeschoolExperiment

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Source: https://www.icanteachmychild.com/summer-math-fun-for-preschoolers-kindergarteners/

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