Learning Maths Made Fun
View PDF | Print View
by: BrendaDillard
Total views: 12
Word Count: 542
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 Time: 5:50 PM
Primary teaching resources for Maths bring to life what could be a dry subject. A reasonable understanding of maths is a crucial tool for children to learn, and the earlier they get a full understanding of numbers the better. Time was teachers would spend days devising and making tools with which to make maths an exciting visual experience. These days, though, there are a lot of primary teaching resources for sale which engage with young children on a strong visual level.
Children engage with pictures much more readily than they do with words and numbers; after all, their brains have been processing images as long as they have been able to see, while words and numbers are relatively new concepts. That's why the best primary teaching resources use pictures to explain complex ideas like maths. Common pictures children can relate to are used to teach numeracy in a fun manner.
Money is taught with the help of cards depicting geometric sweets; each individual sweet represents an unit, boxes of sweets represent tens and jars of sweets represent hundreds. It's so much less dry than discussing pence pounds. The majority boys and girls of primary school age won't have dealt with a lot of currency, but they will be only too familiar with counting out and eying up sweets. These sweet cards were the first, but currently there are a number of Place Value card sets, using distinctive enjoyable metaphors to teach practical mathematical skills. Fractions are explained through commonly divisible items like pizzas, pies, puddings and tarts. Different sets enable the same subjects to be taught but with marginally different emphasis, to make sure that children can separate and recognise the discrete functions involved in more complicated sums (e.g. facts to 10 can be taught in numerous ways with Digit Pop Ups, Busy Boats, Zillions, Wish Fish and Lady Bugs). The Monster Number Line goes even further, teaching numbers as high as 30, 50 or even 100 depending on the abilities and understanding of the children.
It can be difficult to get boys to engage with numbers. Number lines and missing numbers are taught with X-Planes. Footie Facts frame digits and bonds to 10 or doubles in a manner that many young boys will find engaging and interesting.
The Multiplication Rainbow has been a particular success. It is essentially a redesigned multiplication table. Rather than having the digits in strict lines and columns, they are arranged along the cures and colours of a rainbow. Numbers are arranged along arcs of the rainbow, rather than in rows and columns. The reverse is left blank so the children can fill it in themselves.
Both adults and children do some of their best learning when they don't even realise they ARE learning. Playground Pictures mean the learning experience can continue een during back times. External PVC wall pictures put across important primary Maths information in a friendly and unobtrusie manner. Available pictures include rabbits, stars and flowers. All can be easily fixed to walls or fences with glue, screws or nails.
Primarily, these products will make Maths fun. Ideas which may appear all to easy to parents demand a great deal of memorisation by a young child. Using enjoyable, relatable concepts makes that job far less difficult for them.
About the Author
Sweet Counter was established by Chris Mayo. The company offers a range of primary teaching resources for both maths and literacy. She works with a dedicated team of assistants to produce new and innovative products that meet the teaching demands of primary school learners.
Primary teaching resources
