Ah, mathematics. I know I’m weird, but I. Love. Math. Don’t get me wrong. I love reading too, but I don’t consider myself a very right-brained person. Hand me a poem and I’m totally clueless, but ask me to solve a partial differential equation and that I can do with confidence. Mathematics has always come easily for me. It’s clean, logical, and entirely understandable.
I loved math so much, I went to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) for college, the school that Sheldon and the other characters in the show the Big Bang Theory attend. That’s how much of a nerd I am. Numbers bring me comfort. They are like a security blanket. Life is messy, but with numbers I know exactly what I am dealing with.
Now that I have children, I sometimes wonder if my affinity for math is genetic or if it is something that I can nurture in my own children. Neither of my parents are particularly mathematically inclined. My mom’s favorite subject in school was art and my dad is a history buff. However, there were aspects of my childhood that I think helped draw me towards the subject of mathematics.
First, my grandparents always played rummy with me. Even as young as 5 or 6, I knew how to order my cards and make decisions regarding which cards to keep and which ones to throw away. When I was a little older, we started playing gin rummy and cribbage (which is great for addition skills).
By the time I was 8 or 9, I was in love with logic puzzles (the kind with clues and a grid that help you solve which kid played which sport or something like that). I felt like a detective. Now, as a homeschooling mom, I make sure to include one of these sheets in my homeschool crate system and my kids are loving them too.
The commonality I see between these activities is that, even from a very young age, math was a source of fun for me. I didn’t enjoy doing my math homework. I didn’t like memorizing my times tables. However, I did like playing math-related games and doing math-related puzzles. I’m hoping that I can replicate some of this enjoyment for my own kids and help them to learn to love math as well.
Below you will find some tips & tricks as well as free resources I’ve provided for each of the topics below.
When I first started homeschooling, math became the most overwhelming, unpleasant part of our day. As someone who loves math, I didn’t want to continue on a path that was leading to such bad attitudes when it comes to math. For that reason, I used purchased curricula as a guide along with my own math knowledge to create “minimalist” math curricula for my own kids. It covers the same breadth of topics as a traditional curriculum without all the repetition. You are welcome to use what I created in whatever way serves your family.
If you think about it, counting and number recognition can be hard. The symbols we use for numbers are completely arbitrary. To be able to count, the child not only has to memorize the words and symbols, but also understand that each item being counted can only be counted once. (Though it is really fun to watch a young child count a small group of objects and re-count everything 17 times.)
Unlike learning numbers, addition and subtraction seem completely natural to me. Kids are very concerned with fairness, particularly if they have siblings. I think it would be hard to prevent kids from being able to understand concepts like equal, more, and less. Once they understand those concepts, they are well on their way to being able to add and subtract with ease.
Whether they like it or not, all kids need to memorize their multiplication tables sooner or later. Unless they want to be dependent on a calculator the rest of their lives, it just has to be done. Thankfully, there are ways to make this process more painless and fun for everyone involved.
Learning to tell time is a rite of passage for any child. Analog clocks may not be as common as they once were, but kids still need to know how to tell time. If for no other reason, it keeps my kids from asking “How long until Dad gets home?” every time I make dinner.
In case you don’t have time to go through the categories, here are all the homemade mathematics activities and free printables on this site:
Related Links:
Learning Activities for Kids
Science Activities for Kids
Best Books for Kids
Michelle has a PhD in Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor's Degree from the California Institute of Technology. 
Thanks so much for sharing these amazing materials. I really appreciate your generosity.
You’re definitely welcome!
Hi . How do I download the free printables??
Is there a specific printable you’re having trouble with? Not all of my posts have free printables. Some of them are just tutorials. However, many of them do. For example, if you wanted the free addition strip board, https://researchparent.com/addition-strip-board/, you would scroll down to the Materials or Instructions section. There are links to the PDF documents in both of those sections.
These are some really interesting activities and ideas for making math fun for kids. It would help them to cement their knowledge and also to understand math concepts. Thanks for sharing such an informative post!
I am glad you find these ideas and resources helpful!
These are some incredibly creative games and suggestions for engaging kids in math. I appreciate you sharing these wonderful resources so greatly.
I hope they are helpful!
The minimalist curriculum you’ve created sounds like a brilliant solution for avoiding the repetition that can sometimes turn kids away from math.
I hope it is helpful to people! 🥰