Does your child have an interesting math book on her bookshelf? I don’t mean a cute book. And I don’t mean an interesting story that briefly mentions “math”. I’m talking about a book that both teaches math and talks about things of interest to your child.

What got me thinking about this question was “The Coolest Math Problem Ever” blog post on Geekmom.com. It’s a short post about a simple math problem that references a (still-popular?) X-Files show.

Good for you if your child is into X-Files. But what if she is more of a Trekker? Or maybe she’s too young for both and prefers the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Handy Manny instead?

For example, my not-quite-5-year old son can care less about pretty much the entire line-up of children’s shows and instead begs for Star Wars and anything “about robots”. His distant cousin, being slightly older and a girl, scoffs at everything unless it has horses in it. And a neighbor’s 2-year old is totally into his toy construction machines.

I bet, if you make math all about, say, robots, horses and trucks, it will be an epic win and your kid will most likely ask you for more math.

Except, it’s hard to find flashcards or workbooks that satisfy such diverse interests. So you have to be creative about it. Make your own and make it into a story because kids love stories.

I snapped the picture above a while ago at an art festival. And it looks totally awesome. But you don’t have to be remotely artistic to play this math story game. You can draw some pretty crude stick figures just as long as you explain to your child that “this is Mickey and this one is Goofy”. Or you can print the images off the Internet.

The point is you draw a grid, starting with smaller ones for younger or less experienced kids and progressing to larger ones. Draw (or glue) different parts of pictures in the top row and in the left column. For my Star Wars-obsessed boy, this was the game of “Jedis need pants too” in which characters wake up and try to get dressed only to discover that the evil Emperor mixed up all their pants.

Next, tell a story around it trying all the different combinations of the elements. Your child can help you to assemble the resulting combinations by drawing, gluing or just pointing. It might not happen first thing, but as the story progresses, she will become drawn into it more and more.

But hold on, is it really math? After all, there are no numbers here and no counting. You see, instead of counting, you are teaching your child to see and analyze combinations of two variables. Besides, these are not just any old combinations, but structured combinations meaning there’s some structure or pattern behind them (rows and columns of the grid).

Adults use this skill every day, from setting appointments (calendar is a grid) to figuring out bus schedules (grids) and Excel spreadsheets. Shooting higher, some of the hottest professions nowadays rely on visualization and data structuring skills.

Have you played the grid game with your child? We’d love to hear your story. Stumped by your child’s unusual interests? Share them with us and we’ll help you out.

Learning about symmetry with a mirror book game.

Mosaic tiles + Mirrors = “Mama, look, the rockets are all flying to the center of galaxy!”

Have you ever tried introducing a new math game or activity to your child only to hear “I don’t want to do it”? Are you always looking for new ideas for bringing more math into your child’s play? If this has been your experience, then this post is for you.

If you ask me, my answer to both these questions will be an emphatic yes. If I had a penny for every game my son rejected, for every puzzle he set aside untouched, for every idea he met with a blank stare, I could easily buy half the books on my Amazon wishlist. As frustrating as this situation is, there are quite a few good lessons I can learn:

Go with your child’s interests – my son couldn’t care less about jigsaw puzzles until one day I brought home a space-themed one. He practically begged me to start working on it. Of course, buying math games for your child’s interests of the day is neither cheap, nor practical. In some cases it might not even be possible (“Star Wars”-themed Candy Land anyone?). But you can use some of your child’s favorite toys instead. For example, using Star Wars Lego mini-figures as game pieces was enough to make Candy Land irresistible.

Let your child lead – I’m not a fan of flashcards, but sometimes they do come in handy. The other day I gave my son a set of 10 cards with different numbers of colored dots on them and asked him to line them up in proper order from 1 to 10. He worked on it for a little without much enthusiasm. Then he collected his Star Wars Lego mini-figs and a couple of Transformers and ordered them to guess the number of dots on each card. He then proceeded to reward them with drinking straws, crayons, and cloth pins.  Guess which math activity ended up being more fun and on which he spent more time?

Observe and ask good questions – Instead of offering ready-to-use solutions, ask questions. “What do you think will happen if you add more blocks to this tower? How many blocks do you think you can add before it topples over?” And instead of an outright praise, make observations. “I see you gave one cup and one saucer to every dolls at a table.”

Notice math –  most of the time our kids are absorbed in some activity that is fun, but doesn’t look very mathematical to us. At least that’s the first impression we get. Yet a tea party for teddy bears develops your child’s one-to-one correspondence skills. Folding and cutting paper develops fine motor skills, but also introduces such math ideas as symmetry and functions.

Join in and enjoy –  if you are bored with an activity, your child is likely to be too. This is not to guilt you into trying to make more of an effort. Instead, find something you enjoy or can get into and play with your child or alongside your child. I love mosaics of all sorts and puzzles. I noticed that when my son and I work on these, time flies and we end up having fun.

Whatever you do, keep it hands on and interesting for both of you. Talk about the game while you are playing it. Learn to find math in everyday activities and objects.  And have fun. Learning math does not have to be boring.

What is yours and your child’s favorite game right now?