What was your favourite subject back when you were a kid? I don’t remember honestly. It oscillated between History and English and later French. But what was the least favourite- that I remember!
Math, without a doubt!
Somehow it was seen as a scary subject that would give me sleepless nights before the exam. Though we managed to pull through, it never features in people’s favourite subject list! Agree with me?
But with time, the concepts of learning have changed too, luckily. Today, learning math isn’t perceived as scary as it was when you were in pigtails and hopping off to school. Learning those equations in algebra has slowly gotten easier and in fact, more interesting with time. And the key to doing that is to make it fun!
Start ’em young!
And by that, we mean as early as when they learn the 123s. Instead of teaching them to byheart 1+2 = 3, start showing them through your daily activities. Gone are the days when we would have to memorise the tables without understanding why. The whole changing facet of education points toward making it more practical, enjoyable and interactive.
And when they come to the middle school and higher classes, this joy for learning will automatically help them understand the concepts in a better way, making them (hold your breath!) fall in love with Math! Isn’t that the ultimate dream for today’s millennial parents?
Get started on this fun activity:
Introduce your children, right from a very early age to the world of worksheets. They don’t have to be perceived as something that is boring or a chore. When you get the kids interested in solving a worksheet or even solving one together with them, the interest sustains and develops a habit in the child.
Hewlett Packard’s PLC (Print Learn Center) campaign aims to make learning more interactive for children from 3-12 years with their range of worksheets and learning resources designed by India’s leading early-years educationalists. On the PLC website, you will find paper-pencil-based activities and tasks that help children improve their understanding and application of concepts.
The team at PLC in talks with senior educationalists and early-years educators have designed worksheets that are apt for children, right from kindergarteners to busy tweens who are handling multiple subjects! These are designed on the LAR framework (Learn- Apply- Resolve). This unique approach enables your children to understand basic concepts, retain them in long-term memory and apply them when called upon.
What Is The LAR Approach For The Worksheets?
The Learn-Apply-Resolve not only helps in introducing new concepts to your kids but also in reinforcing those concepts and helping kids go to the finish line in understanding them.
Learn: The weekly sets of kindergarten worksheets designed by the finest educators of India cover various concepts & activities suited for your pre-schoolers.
Apply: These activity worksheets for kids provide them with the opportunity to apply what they learned. By means of reinforcement, these concepts are understood better by the children, which makes the process enjoyable and fun too.
Resolve: Tired of answering your child’s non-stop questions? Especially when they learn a new concept, they are going to have the questions and doubts coming in full throttle! On the PLC website, there are a series of video tutorials for kids and webinars for parents to help them understand the fundamental concepts better.
Here is a sneak peek at some of the worksheets for different age groups!
3-4 years:
At this age, your toddler would be excited about the shapes they learn and right from their biscuits to sandwiches- they start spotting shapes! You can work these sheets with your toddlers getting them to colour each shape with a different colour and enjoy the process!
5-6 years
At this stage, kids understand concepts of size and comparison. (Goldilocks story anyone?!) Teach them with these worksheets the concepts of sizes and measurements and get them to colour them according to the sizes.
7-8 years:
Have always loved the small puzzles that used to come in newspapers and books when we were kids. Like- how many triangles can you spot, how many squares are hidden in this figure, etc. Remember those times?! These worksheets have all of those and lot more that will keep the busy kids engaged on boring afternoons!
8-9 years:
Geometry has always been my favourite part of Math! How about you?! With these fun worksheets, your li’l grade-schooler will understand the concepts of symmetry and the different coordinates that shape an object.
You can access the entire set of worksheets for kids at the PLC website. Filtered by age and category, these worksheets will keep your kids engaged and entertained for hours, while they are stuck indoors this summer.
And here are some tips when you are trying to teach your toddlers new skills this summer:
Watch out for the fatigue:
Toddlers have an amazing sense of energy and interest in anything new. That’s the reason they play so actively with the new toy set you got them for 4 days straight and the 5th day they toss it over in the corner of the house. Be it small counting tasks, or chores- sense the fatigue in the child and mix up the activities, to keep their interest sustained.
Stick to a routine:
Be flexible, yes. But stick to a broad routine, even when at home, during the holidays. The last thing you would want is for your kids to fall out of routine or have difficulties adapting to it, when schools start soon. Block a time for worksheets or writing or tracing activities, Once it falls into a system, they will soon adjust to it and start loving it, even!
Praise is the key:
Encourage and inspire the little ones. They constantly look up to us for the smile, the clap and the praise. To impress mommy and daddy is high on their achievements lists, more than even doing the task! So don’t forget to praise your 3-4 year old’s efforts. A little encouragement can go a long way in helping them feel confident about their abilities.
This post is written in association with the HP-PLC Campaign
KSP Team
Mansi Zaveri
Parul Gupta
Vanaja Katrapak
