By Katherine Lee, About.com Guide September 29, 2011
Recently, my son declared that he likes math. This may have something to do with the beautiful, funny, and charming math teacher he has this year. But I think it's also the culmination of my subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) encouragement of math games at home, the wonderful teachers at his school who are intent on making math fun, and my child simply being ready to take on something he felt wasn't his strongest subject.
My son can plow through books and play music on several instruments, but he just didn't feel like he was doing his best when it came to math. Thankfully, he seems to be enjoying it more now, and I'm relieved since he will be learning more complicated math this year now that he's in fifth grade.
According to experts, children often experience math anxiety and reluctance when they don't quite grasp a concept or master a math skill, and then try to move along without building a solid foundation. If your child has expressed anxiety about math or seems to be having trouble with the subject, read "What is Math Anxiety and How Can You Help a Child Who Has It?" for ideas on how you can help. It's important that math anxiety is addressed early, before your child is trying to learn more and more difficult math concepts.
What is Math Anxiety?
As early as kindergarten, kids are introduced to math. As they progress in grade school, children will learn math skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and more.
While math can be fun and challenging for some children, it can be a very different experience for others. For many students, working with numbers and math concepts can lead to math anxiety, in which they can develop a fear and stress about math. They can feel anxiety about not getting the answers right and not understanding what is being taught. They may feel frustrated and upset about not doing well in math, and may develop a dislike for the subject, making the development of math skills even more difficult.
Common Causes of Math Anxiety
Often, children develop math anxiety when they don’t master early math skills, and then are continually expected to learn additional math when they haven’t yet gained the fundamental knowledge.
Just as a solid building cannot be erected upon a shaky foundation, expecting a child to gain new math skills when they haven’t mastered the basics can lead to lack of confidence and anxiety about math. But this is precisely what can happen when children try to struggle to find the correct answers to math problems without understanding the concepts in the first place.
School-age children may also see peers excelling in math and develop a belief that they are not as “naturally” good at math as these other children are. This can lead to self-doubt and a reluctance to try harder at improving their own math skills.
How to Handle Math Anxiety
Parents can help a child overcome math anxiety by offering reassurance, practical assistance, and by making it fun. Most of all, they can set the tone by developing a positive attitude toward math themselves, and trying to find a way to use numbers as much as they can with their child in everyday life. Here are some ways parents can help their child avoid stress about math.
Play math games. Whether you play
"math games online, get out some number-centric board games such as Monopoly or Double Shutter, or use some common kitchen items to play with numbers, playing games that are math and numbers oriented is an excellent way to make math fun and get children interesting in doing math.
Be aware of your own attitude toward math. Have you ever said things such as, “I’m not good at math,” or “I just don’t like math”? If so, consider changing your attitude, or at least not voicing such negative ideas about math out loud. Your child is watching and learning from you, and if you express negative feelings about math rather than talk about the fun and important aspects of math, then you are doing your child a disservice.
Practice with your child. When it comes to math skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, nothing beats practicing. And learning multiplication facts is a matter of drilling. Practice multiplication tables on the way to school, while your child is having a bath, right before story time at night -- whenever you can squeeze it in. Print out math worksheets and practice doing math problems, making things fun and challenging by using a timer or giving your child a treat for finishing the problems and getting faster doing them.
Ditch the idea that some people are not good at math. This is a particularly important message for girls, who may pick up the misconception prevalent in the world today that boys are better at math than girls. While some experts have asserted that a math gender gap no longer exists, other researchers have argued that it does; the reason for those differences are likely complex and varied, including parents’ and educators’ failure to nurture girls’ confidence in math, societal pressure for girls not to succeed in math, and parents’ and teachers’ failure to spot girls’ early struggles with math, which can then worsen over time.
Get help early. And while we’re on the subject of a math gender gap, a fascinating study from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign found that the math gender gap between girls and boys widens between kindergarten and 5th grade. Moreover, the study determined that many teachers may mistake girls’ attentiveness in class and completion of assignments as indicators that they understand the material, when in fact they may not. To make sure that a child -- boy or girl -- really does understand the material, teachers and parents should go over the material with the child, and if necessary, give him or her some extra help as soon as possible.
Help your child shake off mistakes. One of the best things you can do as you help your child develop math skills and learn other academic and life lessons is to assure him that mistakes are something that will happen and that they are learning opportunities. If you can help your child put math mistakes into perspective and remind him that they are what will ultimately help him learn, your child will be less likely to develop anxiety about math.
Online sites to help with Math
1.
Fun 4 the BrainThis site is chock full of fun math games to fit every grade-schooler’s interests, from knight and princess addition adventures to pet shop multiplication activities. Whether your child is just starting addition and subtraction or is up to division and multiplication, these terrific online math games will help him flex his math skills while having fun.
2.
PBS Kids Math GamesThere are dozens of challenging and fun online math games for grade-schoolers, from the youngest kindergartener to third and fourth graders. The games feature characters from PBS Kids’ TV shows such as Arthur and Caillou. Parents will especially love the brain teasing Cyberchase games, which feature characters from the popular math-based kids’ show.
3.
Math PlaygroundThe motto of this awesome math games site is “Play with numbers and give your brain a workout.” Your kids will love games such as
"Making Change," which lets school age kids practice math and subtraction with money and
"Number Invaders," a game that encourages hand-eye coordination and fast addition. There’s also fun and challenging game called
"Multiplication Game," which builds multiplication as well as strategy skills. Math Playground also features hundreds of
math word problems for kids in grades 1 to 6. Try any of these online math games yourself -- you’ll love taking turns with your kids as you play these fun and addictive games together.
4.
HelpingWithMath.comThis site is a great resource for parents who want to help their kids sharpen their math skills. HelpingWithMath.com features fun math games such as a multiplication game called
"Target the Answer," in which players race to choose the right answer to a series of multiplication problems. The site is also loaded with math worksheets, tables, and charts for kids who are in 3rd grade and up.
5.
Arcademic Skill BuildersGames such as
"Jet Ski Addition," "Demolition Division," and
"Space Race Multiplication"engage kids in fun games as they develop their math skills. There are even language and geography games for times when your child might want to switch things up and play something else for a while.
6.
Primary GamesWhether your child is a first grader tackling addition or a third grader who loves Sudoku, you’ll find an online math game that she’ll enjoy playing on this site. There are also shape-sorting challenges, pattern-reading games, analog clock-reading games, and fraction games -- something for every child from kindergarteners to older grade-schoolers.
7.
Sheppard SoftwareYour grade-schooler will love games like
"Fruit Shoot," which encourages some fast-figuring of basic addition and
"Balloon Pop Multiplication," which challenge kids to figure out multiplication facts on the fly.
8.
AplusMath GamesA bingo-like game called Matho will boost your child’s math skills with versions that feature addition, multiplication, and division problems. Other fun math games online for grade-schoolers include hidden picture puzzles, a concentration/memory game, and a hand-eye coordination-building math game called
"Planet Blaster," which features addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems.
Multiplication.com9.
ArithmAttackHere’s a fun site from the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Library. Kids can choose the category of math facts they want to practice, such as addition or division. Then they choose how high they want the numbers in the problems to be (they can go up to 12). The games are timed and the correct answers are tallied so kids can practice getting faster and more accurate against friends or even their own previous scores.
There are loads of kid-friendly multiplication games for grade-schoolers on this site. One is a fun
racing game in which kids have to guess correct answers to multiplication problems to move cars along. Others include a fast-paced
egg-catching game in which kids have to quickly catch the correct multiples of a given number (this one was tough!), and a cute
penguin ice-cream scooping game in which kids are asked to find the right multiplication fact to scoop out the correct flavor of ice cream. Levels of difficulty can be adjusted for kids who are just starting to learn their multiplication facts as well as older grade-schoolers who are looking to sharpen their multiplication skills. Fun!
11.
Baseball Multiplication GameThis fun demonstration game from Everyday Mathematics is great for sharpening multiplication skills. It’s fun for everyone -- parents included! -- but it’s an especially great way for baseball-loving kids to exercise their multiplication facts while scoring on a baseball diamond.
12.
Cool Math.comThis site features fun, kid-friendly online math games such as
Crazy Taxi M-12, which challenges players to crash into multiples of a certain number, or
Feed Fribbit Addition or
Feed Fribbit Subtraction, which requires kids to quickly solve addition or subtraction equations. Kids of all ages and math skill levels will find something to exercise their math skills while having a ball!
More Ideas for Fun Math Games
