Photo Courtesy - Mayr

Before the internet became a ubiquitous part of our daily lives, most elementary students would learn their multiplication facts using charts or flash cards. Kids now have easier and probably better ways of learning and practicing basic arithmetic skills. Websites that offer free and printable multiplication worksheets are your best bet if you’re looking for interesting ways to help your child learn how to multiply. Here’s a list of tried-and-tested multiplication worksheet resources for all grades.

Where to Look for Multiplication Worksheets Online

1. Multiplication.com
This popular website uses stories, pictures and activities to help kids learn multiplication. The philosophy behind this is simple but effective – the human brain finds it difficult to deal with numbers because numbers are abstract. When you substitute pictures for numbers, you replace abstract concepts with concrete ones that can be effectively processed, stored and retrieved by the brain. You’d think visualization is likely to slow the problem-solving process; on the contrary, once your child has practiced the stories and pictures thoroughly, he will remember the facts behind them and bypass the rest. In addition to multiplication worksheets, the website also offers books and other multiplication resources for parents, teachers and students.

2. MathBlaster.com
Young children get bored easily and most need constant stimulation and change in order to remain engaged with the learning material. Keeping this in mind, MathBlaster offers a variety of multiplication worksheets with different difficulty levels. You’ll find time tables, word problems, real world situations, grids, games, drills, and other multiplication-related stuff. What’s more, the site is constantly updated with new resources so your child will always have something new to work on each time. If he gets bored of doing multiplication worksheets, he can play some of the fun online multiplication games for a change. In fact, MathBlaster is every parent’s go-to website for free math resources for all grades.

3. Scholastic.com
No one can beat this website when it comes to sheer variety! Scholastic has hundreds of multiplication worksheets for grades Pre-K to 8. With a modest subscription you get access to math learning resources, many of which are award-winning printables. As soon as you sign up, you can start downloading worksheets as well as practice pages, learning packs and lesson plans for different levels to help your child catch up in math class. This allows you to focus less on searching for material and more on boosting your child’s multiplication skills.

4. Math Worksheet Wizard.com
This website is a blessing for homeschooling parents and teachers looking to give kids some extra math practice at no extra cost. At the click of a button, you can customize and print a practically unlimited number of multiplication worksheets. And all this without the fear of repetition – Math Worksheet Wizard has a unique system of randomly generated worksheets that change each time you click the button. The site keeps adding new wizards so you’ll find enough worksheets to cover your child’s math curriculum from kindergarten through fifth grade.

Getting your child to love multiplication may be a pretty tall order, but these four multiplication worksheet websites can certainly teach him not to fear it.

The first step to literacy is learning to identify letters. If your child has already mastered saying aloud her ABCs, here are a few ABC games that will help him recognize the letters of the alphabet before she starts reading fluently!

Photo by: Leol30

Cool ABC Game Ideas

Learning one’s name –
Names are important to babies and literacy programs are begun worldwide with one’s names. Why don’t you too start your child’s literacy program with her name? Whenever you’re out with the toddler, acknowledge her name’s first letter on the hoardings, advertisement banners, and number plates on cars. Play with letter blocks, magnetic letters, and index cards with the child at home to improve her letter recognition ability. Scramble them up and work together to put them in the right order to spells her name. You can also use this ABC game to introduce simple words to her like ‘Mom’, ‘Dad’, etc.

Introducing upper case and lower case –
Most likely, kids will start reading with books that have a mix of both upper and lower case letters. Therefore, it’s important to introduce them to both the cases from an early age. Play letter games with the kids that require them to match an upper case with its lower case counterpart, or match the lower/upper case letters with words that start with them.

Print referencing –
Print referencing is a reading technique that’s used by speech-language teachers to introduce children to literacy skills. Here are a few ways that explain how you can implement print referencing to teach kids –

1.      Run your finger under the words as you read them
2.      Point to the book’s title
3.      Point where the author’s name is generally found
4.      Draw your fingers from left to right as you read
5.      Move swiftly to the next line

These actions help kids understand that every book/story has a title and author and that every line is read from the left to the right. When the child has started to read and you think it’s time to gravitate towards punctuations, adopt print referencing to teach kids the same.

Recognizing sounds –
When teaching kids the ABCs, correspond each letter with a word that starts with that letter. For example, use ‘S for a star’, ‘M for a mango’, with the kids whenever you see the alphabet on cereal boxes or newspapers. Throw in a couple of similar sound-recognition lessons with regular conversations for kids to learn the skill easily.

After all the ABC games that you’ve played with the kids, remember no lesson is complete till it’s rewarded. Always remember to applaud and acknowledge your child’s newly learnt skill with an extra helping of marshmallows or a long, warm hug!

Photo Courtesy – Bethany Nowviskie

The dog days of summer are almost here and what could be worse than making your three year old sit still and learn math? But he definitely needs to brush up his concepts before school starts; so what’s a parent to do! Like hopscotch, these are 5 fun outdoor kindergarten math games your little one will love to play.

Kindergarten Math Games for the Yard and Playground

1. Shape search

Math skills – shapes, counting

Buy a set of 2D or 3D plastic shapes (or collect your own) and hide them in the yard. Ask your child to hunt for them and place them inside a hoop placed in the center of the yard. How many can he find? Once he finds them all, ask him to sort them out in different ways. Ask him questions to make him think about the shapes he found. Give him a prize for successfully playing this kindergarten math game.

2. Domino numbers (group game)

Math skills - counting

Instruct players to stand in a circle and hand out a bunch of dominoes with different numbers on them. Depending on the numbers they get, each child must perform an action. For example,

· Jump thrice if your domino has 5 spots.

· Turn around if your domino has 2 spots.

· Swap places with your best friend if your domino has more than 4 spots.

· Hop around the circle if your domino has 3 spots.

3. Cross the line if … (group game)

Math skills – computation, number sense

Ask the kids to line up and face you. When you say, “Cross the line if 1+1=2 (or any other age appropriate math problem), the kids have to decide whether they cross the line or stay in place. The child who doesn’t cross the line when he should or doesn’t when he should, leaves the game. Continue playing until only one player is left.

4. Count the Petals

Math skills – counting, matching and ordering

Have a look around your yard for flowers that are in bloom. Collect a bunch of fallen flowers and ask your child to count their petals. When he’s done counting, ask him to match flowers with the same number of petals. If possible, ask him to order the flowers from those with the least to those with the most number of petals.

5. Ball games

Math skills – counting and estimation

Get a large colorful ball and use it to teach your little one some math while playing in the yard. These could include:

· Count the number of times both of you can catch the ball without dropping it.

· Can the two of you roll the ball 10 times between you in half a minute?

· Can he predict how many times you can bounce the ball in a minute?

Simple kindergarten math games like these make math practice a breeze and help the little ones develop a positive attitude towards the subject.

I came across this interesting bit of information just the other day and it made me happy. While I’m not the best person to say whether America’s public school system is really in a decline or not, I can confidently vouch for the fact that homeschooling works very well, provided you get the hang of it. And the icing on the cake? It’s super fun too! Here’s why I would not have it any other way:

1. One-on-One Interaction: My kids and me learn together, sitting across at the same table. The fact that I can give my 100% attention to my child makes me happy (though I have learnt to never expect a 100% in return… ahem ;) )

2. Anywhere, Anytime: The last lesson I had with Sarah was yesterday evening… in the garden. We were planting some flowers and learning their names together. And the evening before, we were taking piano classes together. Of course we do Math and all as well… Mornings are for sums and worksheets, but evenings we have fun. And learn something new.

3. Flexible curriculum: Taking into account my daughter’s strengths and weaknesses, I keep a constant check on the curriculum plan I have drawn out for her. Some days it’s more of Math and less of painting; other days we carry out simple science experiments in the kitchen and then complete a short written test afterwards – it varies day by day.

4. Sharing the joy: …With my husband! Yes, even he enjoys teaching as much as I do. And so does Sarah. So it’s like a win-win situation for all of us!

All in all, I believe homeschooling brings families closer together. And as the saying goes:

When it comes to education, there’s no school like home!