Are you looking for ways to give your child some extra support when it comes to maths lessons? If you want to create an effective and beneficial environment for maths development at home, then making maths fun may be the best approach!
We’ve got some tips for you, because sometimes it can be tricky for primary school kids to feel connected or engaged with maths lessons. If you find yourself struggling, we can help! Get in touch with one of our K-12 tutors located in Kirribilli, Parramatta, Sutherland Shire and across broader Sydney! Based in Queensland or Victoria? We provide support in your state too!
Keep scrolling to read all about our proven strategies to create your own at-home, fun and engaging maths sessions. Before you know it, your child will be busting to get on with their maths homework!
Let’s get started!
Meet Jess
The Importance of Maths for Primary School Students
How to Make Maths Fun!
Advice for Parents
Meet Jess
To ensure we’ve got some of our very best strategies on the table, we’ve recruited Art of Smart’s very own maths tutor, Jess Loch! Jess is currently studying Primary School Education and has a passion for all things maths.
Jess noticed that during her own primary school education, she found it difficult to connect with the content. Now, she’s on her very own mission to create fun real-life maths scenarios.
There is plenty of evidence to suggest that integrating real world maths problems can be a great way to engage children, and make maths fun!
The Importance of Maths for Primary School Students
Whether you’re a teacher or parent, you’ve no doubt heard the phrase, “But when am I going to use this in real life?” or “Why is this important when I can just use a calculator!”
Now that mobile phones and computers are becoming ubiquitous in primary school classrooms, younger students may be quick to assert that they’re never really going to use this stuff when they grow up.
Luckily, you can counter those comments.
Even if your child doesn’t grow up to become an engineer or statistician, maths is needed in almost all human behaviour. From filing taxes or calculating how much money you need to take to the shops, to adding up the people you’re able to invite to your party — it’s everywhere!
A great way to get this conversation started is to ask your child to find the need for mathematics in their own life.
Get them to write down 5 different situations where they’d use even the simplest maths equations. You can give them some hints if you need to, but they’ll be surprised by how prevalent it is.
Jess also explained how beneficial maths is for young school children, “Maths is really important for primary school kids. It helps them to see the world around them in a new and interesting way before a lot of the problem solving that they’ll do in later life. It also helps them when they go into high school.”
How to Make Maths Fun!
Now that we’ve covered the importance of maths for primary school students, you may be wondering what the best tips are to get this teaching started!
Maths actually has a huge potential to be a super fun learning activity. It just takes a little creativity, innovation and positive reinforcement. You’ll have a maths whiz on your hands in no time!
#1: Make lessons interactive
One of Jess’ major tips when it comes to making maths lessons fun for her primary school students is to make sure the classes are interactive, engaging and involve some physical movement. Your child will have their fair share of sit-down exams and tests when they reach high school, for now, it may be useful to encourage playful and interactive maths lessons!
Jess explained, “I really like doing activities that don’t just involve the kids sitting down at a desk. Sometimes these will take the form of activities if I can think of a really good interactive activity, but sometimes it might just be that I get the student to write on the whiteboard, which they are always really excited to do.”
As Jess said, interactive lessons don’t require a huge amount of movement. They can be as simple as setting up a whiteboard or a blackboard for your child to complete their maths activities.
A fun set-up to try would be to get your child to explain their own maths problems to a pretend class. As a parent, you could sit in and listen or your child can set up their toys for their very own maths lesson. Teaching someone else the content can be great for information retention and some kids may find it really exciting!
Make sure you’re also on top of the significant changes coming to the Years 7-10 Maths NSW Curriculum in 2024!
#2: Try out online maths games
There’s an abundance of virtual maths activities that your child can engage with online. If they’ve got access to a computer and you’re not too fussed about an increased screen time, online maths games can be a lifesaver!
“I always find that using games and hands-on activities engages kids, especially for primary school kids. Especially things like online browser games, which are really simple.
“That’s something that a lot of kids play and enjoy. Finding a game that’s relevant to the maths that they’re doing is more likely to entice them into participating,” shared Jess.
You could take a look at Mathletics, FunBrain, Maths Blaster, or MathGameTime!
And they’re just a couple of options. You could also check in with your child’s school to see what games they may recommend based on their year level and progress.
#3: Integrate games and activities
Similar to our last tip, integrating real-life games into maths lessons can be really helpful to sustain interest and engagement.
“Having fun is really, really important in learning. If they’re having fun, they’re generally going to be happier and they’re going to engage more with what you’re doing because they’re more motivated to participate. They’re also likely to remember fun activities so it really helps with the child’s retention of the lesson,” Jess explained.
Since anywhere between 3-20% of young children’s lives consist of play, it’s a great time to integrate educational activities. Learning through play is considered one of the most effective educational exercises for children.
There are also plenty of resources for maths games that your child can play without the computer. You could ask your child to divide food between the family or to practise their times tables with pictures or dances!
#4: Emulate real life situations
Say goodbye to endless numbers, written equations and calculators! Younger children tend to respond best to math problems that are masked as real situations.
We touched on this earlier, but it may be useful to challenge your child to consider a few situations in their life when they need to use maths. Maybe they count their toys before they go to bed or add up all of the books in their room.
Jess told us that in her classes she’ll often bring in fake money or counting equipment to help her primary school students.
“Hands-on activities are good because it means the students aren’t just sitting at a desk, as I said, doing calculations,” Jess said.
She added, “So as an example, one time I gave my primary school students fake money, and laid out some of my possessions on the table. I gave them each a different price.
“Then the student had to choose something they wanted to buy, work out how much money they needed to give me, and if applicable, work out how much change I need to give him back. So it was all about addition, subtraction, but in the context of money.”
We just have to look at the toy shelves of your local Kmart or Target to see the popularity of real world activities. Whether that’s toy cars, kitchen sets, cash registers or lego to build homes, kids love to emulate what they see around them!
It may be a good idea to make your child aware when you’re using maths in your own life. Maybe you’re in the line at the supermarket and you’ll get your child to help you add the price of the items or apply a certain discount (if it’s not too tricky).
You could even start by asking them to add all of the apples you’ve gotten or the amount of money you’d save by buying the $4 bread rolls compared to the $2 break loaf.
There are so many situations where maths can be applied, you just have to look for them!
An apparent necessity in every child’s life is a lemonade stand or garage sale. While maths isn’t always about the exchange of money, it’s a great place to start! You can set up an at-home or neighbourhood stall where, with supervision, your child can work out how to add prices, monitor stock and provide change!
Discover how to teach your child their times tables with practical strategies here!
Advice for Parents
There you have it! They were some of our best tips for parents wanting to create a fun maths environment at home!
Jess concluded, “I would just tell parents to try and make the maths learning as interactive as they can. So, games or activities that relate to their learning. Even if it’s as simple as getting real, physical objects for kids to interact with.”
“This can really help them to see how what they’re doing relates to the real world in some capacity, which I really think helps them to engage with the material that they’re learning about and have a little bit more fun.”
We wish you luck in your fun maths sessions. Have fun!
Wondering how you can motivate your child to do their homework? Check out our article here!
Looking for some extra help to make maths fun for your child?
We have an incredible team of tutors and mentors!
We offer tutoring and mentoring for students in Years K-12 in a variety of subjects, with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at one of our state of the art campuses in Hornsby or the Hills! We also have a fantastic team of Maths tutors in Penrith who can support your child.
We’ve supported over 8,000 students over the last 11 years, and on average our students score mark improvements of over 20%!
To find out more and get started with an inspirational tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!
Gemma Billington is a Content Writer at Art of Smart and an undergraduate student at the University of Technology Sydney. While studying Journalism and Social and Political Sciences, Gemma enjoys spending her time at the gym or reading about Britain’s medieval monarchy – ideally not at the same time. She currently creates and administers social media posts for Central News and writes for the student publication, The Comma. After completing her undergraduate degree, she hopes to study a Masters of Medieval History and is very excited about the prospect!
