Does your child struggle with math? Is he/she having a hard time learning early math concepts? If so, I have some fun ways to practice early math skills at home. I love to incorporate games with math to help make the learning fun!
I use a set of dice like those pictured to the left. There are two dice with single-digit numbers on them, and one operation die with sides marked with a plus or minus. These can be used with any board game and there are a couple of ways to use them.
Students can roll all three dice, complete the equation, and move that number of spaces in the board game. For example, if they rolled a 5, 2, and a plus sign, they would solve the equation 5+2. I know that 5+2=7, so I would move 7 spaces on the board.
Another way to use these dice is to work on a particular fact family. Let’s say your child is working on their 2’s family of addition facts. I would set down one number die with the 2 facing up, and the operation die with the plus sign facing up. The student would roll the other number die, and then complete the equation. For example, if the student rolled a 4, they would solve the equation 4+2, and then move that number of spaces.
I also really like using board games to build early math skills because it helps children learn one-to-one correspondence when moving their game piece on the board. If the child needs to move their piece 3 spaces, they need to carefully count 3 game spots as they move their piece.
Check out my therapy talk here on this topic. You can also find a great list of games that help build early math skills here. A couple of my favorites are Sum Swamp and Feed the Woozle!
Enrichment Therapy & Learning Center has locations in Johnston and North Liberty, IA, with virtual services also available. We provide individualized speech-language therapy, dyslexia and reading intervention, academic support, and executive functioning services to help children build skills and confidence. Contact us to learn more about how we can support your child.
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