Numeracy

How you can help your child with Numeracy at home Developing Numeracy skills is very similar to developing Literacy skills.  Just as we encourage you to spend time talking about and sharing books with your child, you can also be involved in helping to develop and foster skills and concepts related to the world of numbers. Below are some activities that you can carry out with your child in a fun and informal way.  Talking and listening to your child is essential if the activities are to be beneficial.  Young children need time to process their thought and elaborate on what they are observing. Cooking The kitchen is a great place to start!  The world of measurement can be explored when using scales, cups, teaspoons, temperatures, clocks etc.  Allow children to help you count and estimate and see the relevance of numbers in this area. Setting tables A good way in introduce the concept of one number for one item.  This can be a simple and repetitive task that can also assist children in establishing concepts of more than, less than, how may etc. Shopping A wonderful place to discover all sorts of things.  Items can be classified by being big or small, heavy or light, thick or thin etc.  Let children lift and carry for you so that they can feel differences.  Help them discover numbers on foods, on signs, on shelves and let them begin to see that numbers are everywhere in our lives. Money Introduce your child to our currency by letting them sort and play with real coins.  Help them to identify the different size, shape, features and value of our money system.  Let them play with the coins in your purse or give them a small amount of pocket money. Letterboxes Locating and identifying the numbers on the houses helps children to see patterns and sequences.  Check out the numbers in your street or on the way to school. Numbers can be found almost anywhere in our houses – on clocks, videos, computers, ovens, telephones, scales, food items, drink bottles etc.  Encourage children to look for and identify them.  Discuss their purpose and how they assist with daily living. Some simple tasks for you to do. Estimate the number of biscuits in a packet before opening them. Ask now many letters might there be in the letterbox today. Check what time will Mum/Dad get home from work. See how many toys you can pick up in one minute. See how much you weigh or how tall you are. Make birthday cards for family and friends – making sure there is a number on the card. Look for shapes in your bedroom. Give your child his/her own counting jar of buttons, beads, etc. Put special dates on the calendar.