In today’s world, it is essential that parents recognize their child’s likes and dislikes to customize learning and make it fun. Achieving a sweet spot between children’s interest areas and academics could help in developing a natural liking towards important and complex subjects like maths, especially in the foundational years.
The foundational years also are a key in the parent-child bond. Adults today will fondly remember how their parents would take time out to play sports with them when friends weren’t around. But what if you, as a parent, can subtly add mathematical concepts that will give your child mental as well as physical stimuli?
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PremiumWith an added element of fun and relatability, this method enables kids to associate maths to everyday life activities and generate more interest in the subject. Here is a mix of ideas of how you can spark your child’s interest in maths:
1. Have fun with algebra: In the 1988 Tom Hanks-starrer Big, Hanks plays a 13-year-old trapped in an adult’s body. In one scene, he is out for dinner at a colleague’s place, where the colleague’s son talks of his struggles with algebra. Hanks takes the boy aside and says, “People created x’s and y’s to scare us. You like basketball? What if a player scores 52 points in a full game. How much does he score in each quarter?” The boy immediately relates, and says, “Simple. It’s 13.” Hanks says, “That’s algebra.” He then proceeds to show that if x=52, then x4=13.
Similarly, you can use a cricket analogy using Indian T20 league as an example. Using the number of runs required by a team versus the number of balls to be bowled, ask your child how much the chasing team needs to score each over to win.
2. Having the perfect fantasy sports team: Today, fantasy sports is a huge business. While you have to be 18 or over to play fantasy leagues, you can take the help of your children in choosing the perfect team. Remember, this involves several factors. For starters, you have a limit to the points you can choose up too. For example, some fantasy leagues say you can’t go beyond 500 points while choosing a team. Keeping this in mind, sit with your children and have a healthy debate on why x player is better than y player for your team. Remind your child that the current form of the player is a key, so if a player is worth 10 points, but is in the form of their life, then you must add them.
3. Timing is the key: When you see a batsman hit a ball for six, or a football player score from the middle of the pitch, instant replays showcase the genius of the athletic feat. More often than not, you will see the angle of the cricket bat from the ground or the angle of the football player’s leg while achieving the almost impossible. Perfect timing is always associated with athletic genius and even a fraction of a second is the difference between a gold and silver medal.
4. Probability and statistics of winning: It is interesting how some kids will turn their back on probability but love watching which team will win the toss. Here, you can introduce them to the concepts by making them solve the probability of a team winning by evaluating their history in a tournament. What are the ‘odds of winning’, how much a team needs to score to enter the finals, and how each win or loss takes players closer to the finals? Teach them the simple logic behind the probability of a coin toss and gradually they will learn it without having to skip the lesson during exams.
5. Teaching percentages: You have heard commentators say X player scored the highest in the team, you can always ask your child to calculate the percentage of that player’s contribution to the team. It’s a simple and effective lesson in percentage.
Maths evidently has multiple concepts applied around in sports which present an excellent opportunity for relatable learning for children. Use them to improve their maths skills and raise math geniuses!
(The writer is Founder & Chairman, Cuemath.)
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