by Cheryl O'Brien

Created on: May 10, 2007   Last Updated: May 20, 2007

Teaching Math Facts to Grade School Children in a Multi-sensory Way

Children learn with all of their senses. Tasting, smelling, feeling, hearing, and seeing are all ways to for children to absorb and learn facts. Kinetic or doing also helps children to learn facts. To incorporate all of these senses in your childs learning process can be very simple.

Take your child to the market to purchase the ingredients for a meal you are planning for the family and then get your child to assist in preparing and cooking the meal.

Small children can count items into the bag at the market. They can help stir ingredients together while cooking and help to weigh and measure the ingredients.

During these activities talk to the child about how many, how much, and ask them to add up the totals of things added to a dish. Get them to help you read the ingredients and measurements on the recipe and the temperature in the oven. Make math fun and important.

The experience of seeing numbers at work in every day life allows children to see the purpose in learning math and helps them to understand the importance of numbers. When a child understand how numbers work in every day life they are more inclined to take in the information they need.

In the later years of grade school you can extend these activities by asking the child to do more of each part of the task. You can also open a bank account for them and encourage them to save while teaching themthe basics of banking. Have your child regularly handle money at stores and work out the correct change due for purchases.

Most of all have fun and make math just another element of life rather than a chore.

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