Talk together and have fun with numbers and patterns
Help your child to:
Use easy, everyday activities
Involve your child in:
For wet afternoons/school holidays/weekends
Get together with your child and:
Help your child to:
- find and connect numbers around your home and neighbourhood
- name the number that is 10 more or 10 less than before or after a number up to 100
- make patterns when counting in groups (skip counting) forwards and backwards, starting with different numbers (eg 13, 23, 33, 43…, …43, 33, 23, 13)
- try making different types of patterns by drumming, clapping, stamping, dancing or drawing patterns that repeat
- find out the ages of family or whānau members
- do addition and subtraction problems in their heads using facts to 20 eg 10 + 4, 15 – 7
- use groups of 10 that add to 100 eg 50 + 50, 30 + 70.
Use easy, everyday activities
Involve your child in:
- telling the time – o’clock, ½ past, ¼ to
- learning their 2, 5 and 10 times tables
- repeating and remembering telephone numbers they use a lot
- reading and sharing a book. Ask them questions about numbers in the story – use the number of pages as a way to practise number facts, too
- doing a shape and number search when you are reading a book or looking at art (like carvings and sculpture)
- helping at the supermarket – ask your child to get specific items (medium-sized tin of red beans, 2 litres of milk, 250g of mince).
For wet afternoons/school holidays/weekends
Get together with your child and:
- play games – board games, card games and do jigsaw puzzles
- make your own advertising pamphlet – cut out and sort images to go on it, make pretend money to spend
- grow seeds or sprouts – measure the growth each week
- fold and cut out paper dolls and other repeating shapes
- trace over repeating patterns (eg kōwhaiwhai patterns)
- go on a treasure hunt – make a map with clues and see who can get to the treasure first
- dance to music and sing/clap to favourite songs – make up a dance sequence each – can you copy each other?
- both take turns closing your eyes and describing how to get from the front gate to the kitchen, from the kitchen to their bedroom, from home to school
- do timed activities. You hold the watch and they count how many times they can bounce a ball in a minute
- play guess and check games (use different shaped jars) – how many beans, buttons, pegs in the container?