From the time a child can stand on a chair next to his parent or teacher, he can start learning number concepts in the kitchen. Count sandwich ingredients as you prepare lunch, saying, “One slice of bread, two slices of bread, three slices of bread…” When everyone has finished eating, ask how many slices of bread are there now, soliciting the answer zero, which helps establish the basis for understanding subtraction. Allow the child or children to manipulate objects so they can literally get a feel for numbers. A preschooler can be asked to put two baby carrots on each plate, and an elementary school child can measure one cup of milk in a measuring cup and pour it into a glass or mixing bowl.
Small, solid objects are useful for teaching addition and subtraction. Grapes, radishes, berries, chocolate chips and raisins can be manipulated into math equations. Preschoolers and kindergarteners can work on adding one to any number, and they will learn that any number plus one equals the next biggest number. Elementary students can work with larger numbers for harder problems. Eight chocolate chips plus 13 chocolate chips equals 21, and if you eat five of the 21, how many do you have left? It's much more exciting than just doing a worksheet, although it is helpful to have them write down the problem as they work it out on occasion. Sometimes it's better just to let them have fun so math will be enjoyable.
Even a preschooler can start learning about fractions. Parents and teachers can cut a banana in half and tell the child, "We have one banana. One-half is for you, and one-half is for me." Elementary school children can cut a piece of fruit into halves, fourths and eighths, and work with adding the fractions. They will be able to see which number is the numerator and which is the denominator. Also, they will be able to see that one-half is the same as two-fourths, and the parent or teacher can show them that they need to create numbers with a common denominator in order to add or subtract them.
Children can begin learning the names of basic shapes when they are very young. They can see the orange and grapefruit is round like a circle, and a piece of cake can be cut into a square or a rectangle or a triangle. When they get older, they can cut a rectangular solid, such as a casserole baked in a 13- by 9-inch pan, into smaller rectangles and then into triangles. An oatmeal box is often the shape of a cylinder, and the parent or teacher can point out that the cylinder has two bases, which are both circles. Children can be introduced to the concept of vertices, or corners, and edges -- the line where one vertex is joined to another -- by examining a rectangular cake mix box.