Page 6 - Raise Coronavirus Edition 3

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Encouraging children of a young age to engage with numeracy can be as simple as:
• counting fingers, toes and toys
• recognising numbers and shapes on objects like clocks and phones
or in books
• discussing how many pieces they want their sandwich cut into
• comparing things of different sizes – ‘big’, ‘small’ and ‘medium’
• grouping things together and talking about ‘same’ and ‘different’
• using words to describe where things are – ‘over’, ‘under’ and ‘next to’
Get your child involved in the kitchen and during meal times. This can be as simple as:
• measuring quantities for recipes and using different sizes of measuring tools (how many 1⁄2 cups of flour will make 2 cups of flour)
• working out cooking time
• changing the quantities of the recipe if you are to feed more or
less people
• cutting and sharing food into different sized portions
• looking at bottles/jars/tins and discussing capacity of various containers
• setting the table for a particular number of people – this requires them
to sort cutlery and crockery and determine the amount required
Travelling in the car is the perfect time for numeracy to be discussed. You can:
• use car number plates to create the biggest or smallest number
• estimate the length of the journey
• count the number of particular coloured cars
• looking at road signs to discuss distances
• calculate the time it would take to travel based on speed and distance
• use maps and give directions
• compare journey distances using different routes
Shopping is another way to practise numeracy skills. This can be done by:
• identifying and discussing prices
• calculating change and different combinations of coins and notes
• guessing the value of the coin or note from its description
• weighing fruit and vegetables and working out the cost
• reading labels and discussing capacity, weight, shape, colour
• reading nutritional panels and discussing which contains less or more
sugar, kilojoules, vitamins, salt
• calculating the cost of a trip to the movies
• reading catalogues and comparing prices of items at different stores
• working out which item gives the better value based on price
and quantity
• counting items as they are scanned
• calculating the cost of items when applying a discount (eg. 25 per cent off)
FEATURE
RAISE MAGAZINE • SPECIAL EDITION 3