HELPING YOUR CHILD WITH NUMERACY
Ideas to use at home

Helping Your Child with Counting

Encourage your child to:

· Ask you child to count the number of plates, cups and pieces of cutlery used to set the table.

· Count with your child the number of buttons as you do up a shirt or blouse.

· Encourage your child to count the number of pegs you use to hang out the washing.

· Count the number of eggs in a carton, and again after you remove some.

· Count the number of steps it takes to go from the front door to the footpath.

· Play Dominoes, card games and board games involving one or two dice. This will help your child to recognise number patterns.

· Play a game of Snakes and Ladders. Use two dice and encourage your child to add the two numbers rolled.

· Use dice that have numbers instead of dots to help your child read and recognise numbers.

Helping Your Child with Measurement

· Give your child different sized plastic cups and a larger container to play with in the bath or shower. Encourage your child to guess how many of each cup it takes to fill the container.

· Talk about how many cups of each ingredient are used in a recipe when you are cooking together.

· Put sand in a large plastic tub so children can fill containers with sand. Sieves, colanders, plastic spoons, old clean margerine tubs, plastic bottles and funnels are useful for playing with sand.

· Have children weigh themselves. Weigh other family members and family pets.

· Use modelling dough to roll out two 'snakes' of different lengths. Talk about one snake being 'shorter' and the other being 'longer'.

· Record your child's growth on a height chart.

· Talk about events in terms of time.

· Mark special events on a calendar and talk about how many days until the even and which day of the week the event will be on.

· Watch the weather report together and talk about the forecasted temperatures for the following day. Ask your child what they might need to wear or have with them.

Helping Your Child with Space

· Talk about the position of an object when putting it back on the shelf.

· Look for objects inside or outside that are shaped like a triangle, circle, square or rectangle. Look for different sized shapes and shapes in different positions.

· Fold paper to make a hat, boat or aeroplane. Talk about the shapes you are making.

· Make you own jigsaw puzzle from a picture in a magazine.

· Use boxes and containers of different sizes to play 'stacking' games.

· Talk about the route you are taking when walking to school or to the park.

· Make biscuits using cookie cutters or make pretend biscuits from modelling dough. Talk about the shape of each biscuit.

· Involve your child in craft activities such as making your own gift wrapping by printing shapes onto paper using corks, empty cotton reels or sponges.