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Parents often ask why their children are doing poorly in math, particularly in grades 2-6. For young children, abstract quantities can be daunting, especially when taught in the context of skill drills. Many children do not find immediate meaning in numbers as symbols, although that is what parents and math teachers hope to convey to them.

Children in third through fifth grades who are having difficulty with procedural operations, such as long division and multi-digit multiplication, very often have not had any kinetic activity associated with the learning of the multiplication tables which are the basis for their computations. They become distracted from the procedures of multiplication and division by their concern over the “blank space” in their knowledge of multiplication tables and they lose momentum.

Parents often say that they download tables form the Internet or they use flash cards. Another, perhaps better, alternative is to provide art and craft materials for the student to use in writing his or her own personal multiplication tables. When the tables are personalized and used frequently with pride and familiarity, students gain in experience, confidence and expertise.

Children tend to enjoy having their own personally crafted multiplication tables from 1×1 through 12×12. They use these with pride and confidence. Even taking them to the supermarket to compute the total cost of multiple items will help to make the applications of arithmetic real and valued to a child.

Making a child’s learning experiential is of utmost importance in creating interest in math and developing skills. Many are not aware of the essential uses of elementary mathematical and spatial concepts in daily lives. Heightening awareness of these events is essential to pointing them out to children and sharing experience with them.

Just as parents read to our children, so should they communicate a reliance on mathematical principles. This may vary from family to family depending on individual pursuits and interests. For some families whose common interest is sports competition, a short discussion of the role of sports statistics could make that dreaded skills homework more interesting and relevant to a child’s life. Others may be interested in video games, which use computer programming that requires trigonometric applications. Cartoon animation programming uses principles of topology, the mathematics of mapping in space.

Road trips and map reading are also mathematical adventures for parents to share with children. Topographical maps use numbers in an obvious way, while road maps with scale measurements open the discussion to ratios and scale.

The history of measurement and attempts at standardization can become real when discussing money or the differences among the metric, imperial and U.S. measurement systems.

Toddlers, even with a rudimentary understanding of concrete quantity, can enjoy games of “which is less and which is more?” Counting games and rhymes abound and have been traditionally used to accustom children to quantitative symbols even at very young ages.

Perhaps the most useful tool of all in developing a child’s math ability at an early age is precision in language. Most students who have experienced the “drill and kill” math experience in school are shocked when they start to solve math word problems as a mathematical exercise. These applications of the skills so long deemed to be the foundation of math education are daunting to children who have been trained to believe that mathematical studies begin and end with computation.

If children learn mathematics as a foreign language, with symbols and grammar of its own, they are better able to handle the rigors of higher mathematics - with its whole new set of symbols and logic - and they are more productive students. Reading to a child, discussing concepts of “more and less,” “before and after,” “twice as much” and hierarchical classifications such as supermarket shelf organization and street name organization can pay off in a child’s mathematical performance.

Memorizing math facts is a necessary part of elementary school. Flash cards and repetitive chanting have their place, but, for my children, were pure drudgery. Frustrated by their lack of interest in practicing their math facts, I have searched for ways to make memorizing math facts more fun.

Our favorite math web site, Aplusmath is an easy to use site offering a worksheet generator, online flashcards and games including Matho, Concentration and Hidden Pictures. Matho combines both bingo and math facts in an exciting timed game. Or, match the math problem to the answer in concentration. Discover beautiful photographs by solving math problems in the hidden pictures game.

Both of my children enjoy music, so tapes and CD’s are perfect for us. Rock ‘n Learn makes fun audio programs featuring “cool music that teaches”. The math facts programs come in rap, rock and country versions to satisfy a variety of musical tastes. My son happily reviews multiplication facts to a funky rap beat.

A favorite educational “toy” is Leap Frog’s Twist & Shout. Children twist and shout their way to learning facts. It’s fun, it’s lively and the learning is done to a toe-tapping musical beat. Kids move and groove their way through four games, each with a “teach” and a “quiz” mode. Then they twist the number dial to solve the equation and hit it to select an answer. Answers are heard and seen on the LCD screen.

We have also made good use of the Hot Dots flash cards. Hot Dots flashcards can be used like regular flash cards, or add the Hot Dots Power Pen and children can drill independently with instant reinforcement! Kids simply touch the pen to a dot and it responds instantly signaling a correct or incorrect answer.

If traditional flashcards aren’t enough to inspire your kids to practice math facts, try these fun alternatives. Helping your child learn math facts now will make more advanced math so much easier. Have fun!