Learning Numeracy at Home

Your home is full of resources that can be used to help your children learn literacy and numeracy skills. Lurking in your cupboards, in your everyday tasks and routines, all around you are the resources with which you can help enhance your child's literacy and numeracy learning

Numeracy skills

Symmetry

Resources needed: Old magazines and scissors

Cut out a picture of something that is symmetrical from a magazine. Fold it along the line(s) of symmetry. Talk to your child about why it is symmetrical. Get your child to explore your home for symmetrical designs. Look at wallpaper, floor tiles, pictures, bedspreads and appliances. How many can he find? For older children, help them point out shapes that have more than one line of symmetry.

Fractions

Resources needed: jug, 4 cups, water

Fill the jug with water. Pour water into each cup to 1/3, 1/2, 3/4 and full cup. Sit them in front of your child and talk about how they relate to each other. Questions to ask: Which has the most and least amount of water? Can you put them in order of least to most? What would happen if you were to add, say, the cup 1/4 to the cup 1/2? Help your child to understand how two 1/2 cups equals a whole. Ask your child to performing the exercise alone.

Fraction of a tip: You can also teach fractions with apples, cakes or pizza sliced equally into four or more.

Measuring

Resources needed: Long clear container, like a glass vase or see through plastic spaghetti holder, masking tape, marker pen, cup, uncooked rice, popcorn kernels or cous cous

Stick the masking tape one side of the container from the bottom to top in a straight line. Using the marker mark off and write 1/4, 1/2, 1/3 and full equal distances along the tape.

Ask thinking questions such as, how many cups do you think it will take to fill the container to quarter, half and so forth? Try it out. How many cups did it take? Ask how many quarter cups it takes to fill the measure? How many half cups? Try different sized cups; try a big spoon.

Weighing

Resources needed: Weighing scales, uncooked rice or pasta, variety of different shaped containers that hold roughly the same amount

Using the scales, weigh about 5oz of the rice or pasta and pour it into one of the containers. Repeat this for each of the containers you have assembled. The contents should reach different levels depending on the shape of the container. Show the containers to your child and ask him which one has the most contents. Which has the least? Write it down. Empty the contents and this time ask your child to perform the exercise alone. Repeat your questions as before. Discuss how different shaped containers can alter the appearance of the amount they hold.

Money skills

Resources you need: A variety of coins, paper and a pencil

The following activities will show your child how numbers feature in real life and teach some essential money skills at the same time.

You need a few of each coin (such as 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1). Ask your child to tell you how many coins you have. Can she put them in order of greater and smaller size? Ask your child to tell you which coin has the highest number and which the least? Can she put them in order of greater and smaller number? Why is the 2p less than the 5p - use the pencil to help work it out if necessary. If you take a coin away can your child tell you how many are left? Can your child tell you which is missing? If your child is ready, encourage her to calculate how much money you have in total.

For older children: Get them to add up the total amount and write it down in the correct format, for example, £3.45. Take away some of the coins and ask them to add it up again. How much does it come to? How much is missing? If they needed to buy something that costs 75p how much would they have left? If you gave them a certain amount, for example, 50p, how much would that come to then?

Count the ways: How many ways can you make up 10p, 25p, 30p, 40p and so forth? Help your child to add the coins together to work it out.