Teaching Math to Kindergartners

Teaching five and six year olds is by no means an easy feat. If anything, it is a complex challenge in itself and can only be accomplished with persistence and determination. Children belonging to this age group can be quite a handful and so whosoever takes it upon themselves the responsibility of making them study or learn anything for that matter, needs to be a person who can keep themselves cool and calm at all times. Of all the disciplines taught in kindergarten, kindergarten maths has been found to be the most daunting of them all, for both teachers and the children.

The reason behind this is that generally speaking, at all age groups, math is regarded as the most tedious subject of them all since it requires concentration and proficient perceptive skills. When actually a child’s perception about this subject is developed in Kindergarten and that is where the problem lies. Children are not properly introduced to Kindergarten maths and because of that, from the very start, they look at the subject as a tiresome burden.

This is why all pre-schoolers find it hard to focus on the subject as from the very beginning they come to dislike it and prefer to not give it any of their attention or interest. However, this can be overcome quite easily if the right methodology is adopted when teaching kindergarten maths. 

Children should be introduced to the subject in a way that sparks their interest in the discipline. They should not at all be burdened and should be taught in the most comprehensive way possible. The best way to do so is by engaging them while teaching a particular math concept so that they get the feeling that they are playing a game. This way they will understand the concept and will also be able to retain it in their mind as it would be something that they would have a genuine interest in. For instance, the concept of counting and be taught by making the children count things that are of their interest. These could be sweets, toys or some other article that the associate with.

Teachers and parents both who want their kids to learn math in a quick and effective way need to understand that it is very important to go to the level of the child and think from their perspective. Bombarding children with new dry and complex concepts only makes them run away from the whole task of leaning anything. So it is highly important that they be taught at a pace and in a way that is ignites their interest and makes them actually want to learn themselves.

Mathematics is a subject that has a lot of practical applications, so it is quite easy to come up with ways to teach its various concepts to five year olds by creating scenarios where they have to practically apply the concept that they are being taught. This allows for far better comprehension and understanding as well as the ability to retain the newly learned concept. Children usually are able to retain things that call for them having to engage in something. For example, they can be taught numbers in the form of a nursery rhyme.

Teaching kindergarten maths in a fun and comprehensive way would not only develop the children’s interest in the subject, but will also aid them in retaining all of the concepts that they need to learn. This way, throughout their life they will have a positive outlook towards math and would be able to readily pick and grasp the concepts taught to them.