Many children struggle with maths at school, and this subject is difficult for some students because they believe it’s hard to understand. So, the teachers struggle with the challenge to share their knowledge with every student and help them love math, without causing aversion to it. Preschool is the time when the children show their talents, so the teachers should recognize the potentials and motivate them to improve their knowledge, and get more interested in the topic or subject they show less affection for.
That’s why the teachers are using different educational approaches, like this math worksheets as one of the most popular forms to check their knowledge or assign them exercises. Usually, they create these sheets by themselves, adding relevant questions that can help the students remember the facts easily, especially the preschoolers who still don’t know how to write or read, but they have to boost their logical reasoning and thinking. Math is the subject that is causing headaches to everyone because many of the students simply deny learning. But, these worksheets can help them increase the interest, without even realizing they are doing math.
The good side of this struggle is that the math for preschoolers is very basic and simple, and they just need to recognize the shapes, forms, digits, count to 10, and so on. Here are a few ways how to make this subject more fun:
1. Include entertaining content
Math tasks for preschoolers can easily be illustrated with interesting and entertaining images. For those who are not talented enough, there are pre-ready worksheets that can be downloaded from nofusstutors.com and similar services, and then easily adapted to the things you are teaching them. The first thing they learn about this widely used and important subject shouldn’t be the numbers and operations, just the opposite – math can be fun and entertaining if the teacher knows how to do that.
2. Let them be creative
Some math problems can have more solutions, and the approach can indicate the child’s intelligence and the general interest in the subject. Also, you can let them play with the different geometrical shapes, by cutting the sheet in the required shape. The creativity will train their logical approach, and they will probably love this subject more than you suppose.
3. Let them destroy the sheets with bad marks
The teachers are the most important chain in the educational system, and they can make the kids either love or hate the subjects. Bad marks are a usual thing that occurs during preschool, but here is a great idea of how to prevent the kids to hate it. Let them destroy the paper they got a bad mark. You can motivate them to make a paper ball or cut it in pieces like snow, giving them a clear message that they will have a chance to improve the result next time. Sure, the marks are important, but the preschoolers have to learn to embrace the bad situations, deal with them, and take the new chance that is given.
4. Use familiar shapes, colors, and patterns
The preschoolers are actually young children, who don’t have a clue about real math, and you need to use an appropriate approach to make them understand it. So, instead of numbers, group the candies, pets, fruits, or other things that are familiar to them. It’s much simpler to explain that if you add two candies in the basket of two, there will be four, instead of trying to explain to them the raw numbers and operations.
5. Sorting circles and objects
You can draw a few circles on the paper, and give them real objects to sort. For example, you can still use the candies or small toys, and give them a simple task, for example, to put the pink candies in the bigger circle, or the bears in the rectangular-shaped sorting area. They will have a lot of fun doing that, and they will understand the concept of sorting things by following their physical characteristics.
6. Make a game of it
These kids are very young and the usual educational system can’t be simply applied, because they won’t understand a thing. That’s why you need to make them think they are playing a game during math classes. That’s one of the ways to avoid the hate that is usually associated with this subject. So, here is one exceptional idea. Instead of making copies of the worksheet for every preschooler, you can print the task on a bigger paper and turn it into a game. They can roll the dice, count to 10, move the objects from one point to another, draw some shapes, circle and connect the similar or opposite objects, as required, and so on. Turning the math class into a huge board game can make things messy, but they will anyway enjoy every moment of it, and surely will tell the parents and relatives how much they love math.
7. Let them express themselves
Math is an exact science and no one can improvise, but that’s the rule for primary and high school, or even for the college classes. But, in preschool, everything is allowed. The teachers have an important role during that age to inspire them and motivate the kids to love this subject. Motivate them to be active during the class, let them express their thoughts, ask them how they came to some results, and let them explain their thinking process. Surely, you already know that you should never shame the kids that aren’t much talented, and find another subject for them to shine up.
In the past, the educational system and the teachers were stricter to the students, no matter their age, and probably, that’s why some adults still hate some subjects, especially mathematics. But today, new methods are embraced and accepted, and worksheets make an important part of it. These pieces of paper don’t give the usual feeling like a test or exam, and the teachers are still able to check the knowledge and detect the progress.
