For many (my mum included) the idea of maths is a real turnoff. For some reason that I can not begin to explain I have always liked maths and it’s incredible that as my mum loaths the subject it hasn’t damaged my view of it at all. Well done mum! The only issue now is that I need to make sure my own kids don’t rebel against me on this one. Know the feeling?

But whether you love it or hate it as maths has such a wide and important application for all of our children, it’s important for us to do everything in our physical power to help children grasp mathematical concepts from an early age.  How do we do this?

Well the good news for us is that for early maths, it doesn’t have to be about complicated sums, multiplication and long division.  It’s about helping children to understand mathematical ideas in everyday context without realising it.  There are lots of activities that we can be doing every day without working too hard at it e.g. matching things up, finding patterns and work with money.

My personal favourite thing to do is work with pocket money as it is not only a reward system, but is easy to relate to in an every day context and usually means that I don’t forget. Money usually comes up in context somewhere as children can tend to want so many things. But the idea of pocket money only really starts to become meaningful for a child aged 4 and upwards. My 2 year old is just happy to have something to stuff into her money box.

I was absolutely delighted when Maths Insider created an article for us to give some ideas for you with 24 short and simple maths activities.

In this article you will see that it’s not hard to fit mathematical concepts into everyday living. It just takes a bit of creativity and realising what it is that you are doing.

What activities do you do to make Maths Fun? Please do share your comments below as it will inspire others with ideas.