Mathematics Can Be Fun!

 

If you’re like me, Mathematics at school was always a daunting subject! However, I have discovered that the key to motivating children in any subject, but especially Mathematics is to make it fun.

Counting in various intervals, e.g., 1’s, 2’s 3’s 4’s 5’s, forwards and backwards, etc. is crucial to laying the foundation for mathematical skills. Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are all based on counting. If a child have a solid understanding of counting in different intervals, they find the transition to the later operational activities much easier.

A study by researcher Louis Manfra from the University of Missouri suggested that teaching pre-schoolers to count, better prepares them for success in mathematics once they start school and found that children who could recite and count to 20 in preschool had the highest mathematics score in first grade.

(Origo Education)

In class we played a ball game to make counting more fun. I gave one student a number to begin with. They had to say the next number and throw the ball to a friend, who then followed with the number after that one. We had a lot of fun during this activity.

Kim Coetzer

Year 2 Teacher