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" 'Ideas To Help Children Learn Math During Everyday Home Routines' [in] A Family Note on Finding the Math"
 

Daily activities such as getting dressed, helping to set the table, picking up toys, and eating a meal provide opportunities for families to teach children various math concepts. Teaching teams including parents may learn how these daily activities enhance children’s mathematic skills. These every day routines can help children count, use one-to-one correspondence, repeat patterns, solve problems, compare sizes, recognize positions of objects, and understand quantities.

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The following is an excerpt from A Family Note on Finding the Math



Here are some ideas to help children learn math during everyday home routines.
 
Getting dressed
 
boy putting on his clothes
"How many buttons do you have on your shirt? Let’s count them as I button you up."
Number—counting

"Here’s a sock for this foot. That’s one foot. Here’s a sock for the other foot. That’s two feet!"
Number—counting, using one-to-one correspondence

"Look, the stripes on your socks make a pattern  blue, white, green, blue, white, green!"
Repeating patterns

"Do you want to wear your short pants or your long pants?"
Measurement—comparing sizes

 

 
Setting the table
 
a table setting
"Will you help me? Each person gets one fork, one spoon, and one napkin."
Number—using one-to-one correspondence

Point out the repeating pattern in the way your family sets the table. For example, "The fork goes on this side, then the plate, and then the spoon. We do it the same way every time!"
Repeating patterns

"How many spoons do we need? Let's count."
Number—counting, solving problems

"Give the big cup to daddy. I would like to have a little cup."
Measurement—comparing sizes

 

 
Eating a meal
 
famliy sitting at the dinner table
"Your sandwich looks like a square. If I cut it this way (corner to corner), what shapes will it make?"
Geometry—recognizing shapes

"How many pieces of cheese do you want?" "Do you want one or two?" "Let's count how many raisins you have."
Number—counting

"You have more pieces of apple than I do."
Number—comparing number of objects

 

 
Picking up toys
 
box of toys
"Let’s put your cars on the shelf and the balls in the box."
Spatial Sense—recognizing positions of objects

"Can you put your three trucks here?" "There should be six dinosaurs. Will you count them and make sure they are all there?"
Number—counting

"You can put away the square pieces. Your brother will put away the round ones."
Geometry—recognizing shapes

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" 'Ideas To Help Children Learn Math During Everyday Home Routines' [in] A Family Note on Finding the Math." National Head Start Family Literacy Center, Sonoma State University. 2004. English.


Last Reviewed: January 2010