Spot On At Home
Developing maths skills through games is a great way to create a positive attitude towards mathematics
Parental support is known to have a positive impact on a child’s numeracy development, but what is sometimes overlooked is the role of the parent in motivating children and providing a positive attitude towards mathematics (Jay, Rose & Simmons, 2018).
Maths homework often places the responsibility on parents to help their children learn number bonds and times tables. This is rather like putting the responsibility of teaching children the rules of grammar. However, this is not the case in English as parents have the fun role of reading to their children; bringing them the magic of stories and giving them a love and passion for reading and at the same time children acquire a sense of grammar.
In a similar way, by playing board games and finding ways to make numbers and maths meaningful and enjoyable, parents can fulfill their role in supporting their child’s numeracy development. Making maths meaningful and creating a positive attitude to numbers, is one of the most important things that a parent can do to support their child’s early maths development.
Children can learn all early maths facts through playing these games
Research shows that by making maths tactile, visual and multi sensory, children have the best start in their understanding of numbers. Spot On With Numbers has designed a games pack which is perfect for learning number facts in a fun and multi sensory way.
Making patterns and then discussing the patterns provides rich opportunities for learning
The Pegs and Boards included in the games pack are also a great way to represent all calculations involving whole numbers to 50. They can be used to help with homework, for example addition, subtraction, multiplication or division questions. Please visit our ‘Free Resources’ page for more ideas.
Parents often don’t realise the amount of learning that takes place when children play freely with the Pegs and Boards. ‘There is evidence to show that early patterning skills are important predictors of children’s later mathematics achievement’ (Rittle-Johnson, Fyfe, Hofer & Farran, 2017) and ‘parents may be able to increase how frequently their children think and talk about advanced early number and patterning concepts by talking with them about such concepts’ (Douglas, A., Hwang, J. & Zippert, E. L., January).
For parents with children with Special Educational Needs, please see our SEN page for further information.
Many parents find helping their child learn multiplication facts very stressful. To assist with this, we now offer Online Live Times Table Tuition designed to be used alongside our new Multiplication Pack. Difficulties with multiplication often stem from under developed number sense and a gap in key prerequisite skills. Spot On With Numbers has established a complex method for successfully teaching times tables, tailored to address any gaps, build on prior knowledge and suit your child’s specific needs.