New maths resource for families Thursday, June 6, 2013 - 17:30

A new resource to help parents and carers take a more active role in their children’s maths learning at school, by providing ideas and activities to do at home, has been published by NIACE, as part of Maths4Us.

Based on two popular stories - The Seven Little Kids and The Three Billy Goats Gruff - Maths4Families brings maths to life and makes it fun through family activities. The pack includes games, toys and rhymes to develop the language of maths - number recognition, basic calculation, sequencing and estimation - for children in their early years. The relevance of each activity is explained, alongside the particular skills the children will be learning. Also included are suggested questions to help children develop maths skills and vocabulary.

Sue Southwood, Programme Manager at NIACE, said:

"Parents and carers are such important role models for their children when it comes to maths. Simple things such as noticing and recognising shapes and patterns around the home or when out and about and encouraging children to predict what comes next in a sequence. Even asking them which portion of food is bigger or smaller can all help mathematical development and encourage children to see that maths isn’t just something to be done at school, but that it’s a part of our everyday lives and can be fun."

500 Maths4Families packs are being given away by NIACE’s partners, Campaign for Learning and Booktrust. These will be used as part of a family maths session for parents that can be delivered in two hours or broken down into shorter parts to suit the families involved. Two session plans can be downloaded for free – one for practitioners to use with parents and one for practitioners themselves.

The pack and sessions plans have been developed as part of a national initiative to improve adult maths skills across the country – Maths4Us. A showcase event on 17 June will highlight the reach of Maths4Us in recent months and bring together a range of partners to support maths learning and develop a range of approaches, resources and training.