How do you get a Six year old Boy, interested in Math?

Kitz - posted on 10/06/2011

You're probably not going to get a guarantee on that engeneering degree at this point either way. Math is not to be pushed if they don't take to it. I let my six year old show me what they did that week in math and look over any problems he might have missed. I use items he likes (matchbox cars, rocks, frogs, cookies, leaves or sticks, buttons crayons and on and on... Another "trick" I use is making sure the lesson ends well, not with him losing interest before we quit.

Do experiments have him measure ingrediants and help with baking different kinds of cookies.

JuLeah - posted on 07/29/2011

Ignore math. Don't teach it or talk about it, or he will simply dig his heels in and hate it more.

Kids don't like what they think they can not do.

So, play games that require the role of a dice - he has to add the number on each turn, as you add the number out loud on your turn.

Play card games, teach him a version of blackjack. If 21 if too big of a number, play 10 and the person who gets two cards closests to ten without going over wins

Have him shop with you - talk about prices, add things as you shop

Have him help cook, work with fractions as you put in 1/2 cup of whatever

Have him open a saving account and work on money

Make math part of your everyday conversation without ever using the word 'math'

There are so many ways to bring it nto everyday life and work on skills without him knowing that is what you are doing

Andrea - posted on 07/29/2011

Don't call it math. Don't even ask him to sit down to do exercises. Ask him to count steps up to the bathroom when you walk up, how many fingers he has, how many left if he hides one, how old will he be in one year, 2 years, basically make it fun. Make a game out of it. Play sorry (the board game) so he can count the number of steps, try to show him how to play chess. One of my kids zoomed in on it and he is great. It teaches planning and problem solving, strategy. The other wanted to sell lemonade (I suggested it) when we had a community yard sale. We practiced with quarters and dimes, the cup cost 50 cents so they needed to recognize that. I had to check and when they needed to give money back I had to do it but we had so much fun. They made money, sold a lot of cups. When we squeezed the lemons we cut them in halves, and added them up. They always told me they didn't like math. But they want to be astronauts. I pointed out that without numbers they won't make it there. Plus everything is numbers. Estimate how tall you are, how old you are, how big are your shoes, how many eggs do you want for breakfast, how many days until the weekend birthday party, there are numbers everywhere.
Do shapes, sort them, make patterns, compare smaller bigger, lighter heavier objects etc. These can all be done with games and you can have so much fun. Of course give feedback all the time if he is making an effort even if he isn't correct. hearing all the time that he can't do it, he is not correct or he doesn't get it is not conducive to learning. At 6 they don't have to do a lot of heavy math. Teach them to count by 2s, 5s, 10s, these have to be memorized, there is no other way. Count to 100. Play cards, match cards, memory games, the list is endless, these are all basic math skills for little guys. How about learning music? Reading the notes is all math, they learn to play an instrument, they love the music they are making and they pick up math they don't even realize it. How about giving tickets and exchanging 5 for a dime or something and then collect change. Count it from time to time and let him go to the store to buy something. He will be excited so you will have to guide him what is worth how much. He won't get to buy a big toy with pennies but you can get gum or dollar store items, stickers, chocolate, ice cream etc. When they realize it is easy to spend money they start to be more careful and collect longer. The key is to make it fun. Maybe tell him when he was a baby he didn't like not knowing how to roll over or stand up and walk but he kept trying until he got it and now he loves it. You have faith in him that when he keep trying he will eventually learn. He is so small, he will learn a little more every day as he grows. Maybe showing him that he can develop on his own will help him realize he can learn hard stuff too. As they say, anything worthwhile is always hard to learn. If it's not hard, it is probably not useful either.

Sarah - posted on 12/16/2009

I am a mum of a six year old boy...and a teacher... Just go with it. Don't even mention it to him so he doesn't have anything to react against. Just do lots of incidental counting... count how many pushes on a swing... Simply ask him if he wants you to cut his oranges into halves and quaters... I took my little man to buy a callendar and each day if he is good (ish). he gets a sticker ( making note of the date as we go), on it and if he has five for the week he gets pocket money. I also deduct money for silly behaviour...it's amazing how quickly they learn esp when they have something tangable to gain like money etc. They dont even realinse they are getting new skills. Good luck...

Amanda - posted on 12/12/2009

Melissa where r u from and how did homeschooling pan out for you and your siblings??

Melissa - posted on 12/12/2009

My mom had us 7 kids and she homeschooled them all. My littlest brother HATED math. So my grandma took over dimes and nickels and pennies and would let them pick which one they wanted, after a problem was done. He has loved math ever since cuz it will add up lol.

Linda - posted on 12/12/2009

Use M&M's, when math time is over he can eat them.

Brittany - posted on 12/12/2009

I hated math because I was not good at it. Start out to easy for him at first. I used flash cards for my 3 year old. We learned numbers first only 3 to 5 at a time. I kept it positive Whenever she did it right. I leaped and yelled and was very excited. She is now doing basic addition and subtraction. When the lesson it to hard or I see her getting over over loaded. I'll stop and we will end the lesson on something she knows.I will take it down a level to end the lesson. That way, she never has that feeling going into it like "I can't do this". The flash cards worked really really well for me. I started out getting them from walmart. As she has gotten more advanced I have starting getting workbooks from the teacher supply store. It works. She is 3 doing first grade work.

Sharon - posted on 12/12/2009

That sucks and its sad.



I hated math growing up too. It was just boring. Being military we moved alot and one year I had a teacher who had these ITTY BITTY TEENY TINY cubes. THOUSANDS of them!! I had a blast building things with the tiny cubes.



After I got to play with them a bit she showed me how they worked to help figure math problems. I always saved math for last so I could play with the cubes at the table with the cubes. Yeah that was an awkward sentence but I'm fricken tired, lol.



I think cubes are the best but anything tiny will do. Beads are easy to get. Maybe a craft shop would have the cubes?



ugh I am tired. My point was make it fun. chop an apple into cubes and let him eat them - if you dip them in salt water they won't turn brown.