Are We There Yet?

It’s the refrain of summer journeys everywhere: “Are we there yet?” or if you happen to be at home, it might sound more like: “I’m bored…..!” Wondering how to respond? Try some of these easy tips for summer math learning.

· View road trips as a mobile classroom. Turn “Are we there yet?” into a learning opportunity. Create paper tickets for each trip and share how many tickets long the trip will be. At even intervals, collect one ticket from your child. This fun exercise gives children a tangible and visual way to understand distance and time. Using different colors allows your child to practice patterns and learn early addition problems or fractions.

· Transform routine chores into fun lessons for young children. For preschoolers, the opportunity to be a good helper can be all the motivation they need. If you’re doing laundry try sorting colors (whites and darks) and measuring capfuls of laundry detergent. By using measuring and sorting you’ve created a natural math lesson.

· Turn children’s collections into math lessons. Children love to gather items, especially at the park, beach, forest or even in the backyard. Encourage children to sort their items by size, color, shape or texture. If a child loves to observe nature, try a scavenger hunt where young children have to find a specific number of rocks, or sticks. Counting and sorting are essential early math skills.

· Follow your child’s interests to guide learning. No two children are alike, and especially so if you have both a son and a daughter. Make early learning fun and playful by engaging a child’s natural curiosity.

Using these simple tips and summer boredom busters, you can keep your child occupied and learning!

Adapted from: http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/math/math-tips-for-parents/summer-math/

Lisa Scalapino is a School Psychologist and Educational Consultant. Questions? You can reach Lisa at lisa.scalapino@sd72.bc.ca