Top Tips for Parents

Junior/Senior Infants
Sorting experiences provide opportunities for children to explore the properties of objects and to observe similarities and differences between them. Use a range of everyday contexts:

Sorting clothes after washing (T-shirts, jumpers, trousers, dresses)
Sorting cutlery at mealtimes (knives, forks, spoons)
Sorting toy vehicles (cars, buses, lorries)

Matching items establishes a one-to-one correspondence between them and is an important prerequisite skill in learning to count. Useful activities include:

Pairing socks, shoes, gloves
Putting one cup on each saucer, one lid on each saucepan
Giving each teddy a biscuit

Engaging children in a range of stories, rhymes and songs offers opportunities to explore number and counting and other mathematical ideas such as sequencing, size and quantity, shape and space.

Rhymes and songs such as ‘One, two, buckle my shoe’, ‘One, two, three, four, five, once I caught a fish alive’ (counting forwards) and ‘Ten green bottles’, ‘Five little ducks went swimming one day’ (counting backwards)
Stories such as ‘The Three Little Pigs’ (number), ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ (days of the week), ‘Where’s Spot?’ (position)

Middle Classes
Shopping experiences

Handling small amounts of money
Selecting coins to pay for goods
Working out the total cost of two or more items
Checking change
Comparing prices (which is more expensive?)
Talking about pocket money and whether there is enough saved to buy a particular treat

Time

Ordering and sequencing events (when getting dressed, going to bed)
Setting the timer and counting down to bedtime
Talking about significant times (lunchtime, bedtime) and dates (birthdays, New Year)
Recording dates and appointments on a calendar or in a diary
Reading times, particularly on analogue clocks (clocks with hands)

Mathematics outdoors

Counting everything! (objects, actions, sounds)
Talking about directions (forwards, backwards, left, right)
Looking for patterns (bricks, windows, fences, paving)
Talking about shapes (road signs, buildings, statues)
Comparing sizes (items in the shopping basket, tools in the garden shed)
Exploring car number plates (odd and even numbers, numbers ending in 5 or 0)

Games

Games involving matching, numbers and counting – Snap, Dominoes, Snakes and Ladders, hopscotch
Games involving calculating scores – Scrabble, bowling

Senior Classes
Developing financial capability

Solving problems involving money
Discussing special offers (half price, 3 for the price of 2, 20% off)
Talking about ‘best buys’ (Is it better to buy a pack of six or six individual items?)
Planning ahead in terms of saving and spending; prioritising needs and wants
Discussing foreign currency

Time and distance

Reading analogue and digital times
Calculations involving passage of time (The journey takes 2 ½ hours. When will we arrive? The cake needs 40 minutes to bake. When will it be ready?)
Reading timetables (24 hour times)
Estimating how long it will take to travel a certain distance
Working out average speeds

Mathematics at home

Measuring ingredients for a recipe
Looking at the nutritional information on food packaging
Being involved in DIY tasks (calculating how much curtain fabric is needed, how many floor tiles)
Exploring weather data (temperature, rainfall) before going on holiday
Planning a menu or a family outing (estimating quantities, working out costs)

Games

Games involving strategic thinking/logic – draughts, chess, Connect 4
Games involving money transactions – Monopoly”

Useful Maths Websites.