Afraid teach your child in math? Here's a hands-on approach for teaching addition and subtraction, and how numbers relate to each other.
Teaching beginning math isn't as scary as it sounds. Children are like sponges, ready to soak up whatever you have to offer them. So if your approach is right, meaning age appropriate and interesting, they will ward off math anxiety at an early age. Consider also your own feelings about math. If you have a hard time with it, you'll pass that on to your student subconsciously.
Hands-on learning is the perfect method for young children to learn anything. Learn about ancient Egypt by dressing up like Egyptians and building pyramids out of toothpicks. Learn the Middle Ages by growing and using herbs. Active children remember what they've learned!
Hands-on is especially well-suited for math. To add and subtract beans, spoons, or people makes the concept of math simple to grasp. Of course this is for the youngest children, and they do naturally advance to the more abstract idea of doing math in their heads.
But first children must learn what numbers mean. They don't learn that by memorizing them up to 100. They need to learn that 3 means 3 buttons or 3 flowers or 3 cookies.
Once this is understood, your child can begin to work with numbers. She can add beads together, especially if you illustrate the problem with a story. "If you have 4 beads and Molly comes to play and she has 1 bead, how many will you have altogether?" Get out the beads and show her the 4 and the 1. She can count them, imagining her friend coming to play. Do this with numbers less than 5, so that she can also count the answer on one hand. Gradually begin to use larger numbers.
Obviously, subtraction can be taught the same way. "You picked 5 flowers and gave 2 to mommy (or daddy).
How many do you have left?"
Now show your child how numbers are related to each other. Addition and subtraction are not two separate
functions. They are very much related. Show her that 4+1=5, and that 5-1=4. These three numbers are related, and the equations are not separate problems. You can't explain that to her, but she will learn it with enough examples.
Show her that 9 beans can be made into groups of 4+5, or 6+3, or 7+2, or 8+1. Lay 7 beans on the table and let her divide them into two groups in as many ways as she can. This will show addition and subtraction at the same time. They are not separate entities. If your child understands this concept of relativity, she will grasp later math quickly.
Young children also need to learn comparisons at this age. Big, bigger, biggest, and so on. This is best first illustrated with family members, as your child can always look at them and think about the size differences. "I am big, Sissy is bigger, Mommy is biggest."
Get some 4x6 index cards and draw some comparisons on them to illustrate big, tall, short, long. Then using different materials, such as scraps of fabric or buttons or seeds, have your child do it herself. She can lay it out on a table, then glue them on the card when she has gotten the order correct.
Simple shapes need to be learned now, too. Rectangles, squares, circles and triangles can be outlined in yellow for her to trace while she says the name of the shape. Outlines can also be made of dotted lines. Try hiding a shape within a picture and have her find it and trace it. Have her use popsicle sticks to create those shapes on the table. Cut them out of construction paper or fabric and glue them on a separate sheet of paper. Explain why each shape is what it is; a square has four equal sides, a triangle has three sides, and so on.
Make math fun, colorful and interesting! It does not need to be traumatic for you or your child!
