Painless Early Math Lessons for Kids

We've homeschooled now for three years, and I have come to the point where I try to avoid worksheets and workbooks as much as possible, especially when the kids are younger. That doesn't mean, of course, that I don't use worksheets or workbooks at all, because I definitely do. It's just that some concepts are better learned—and practiced—with a hands-on approach.

Math for my 5-year-old Joely is definitely one of those areas that is better learned without pencil in hand. So instead of using a workbook for "doing math," we have often used a set of 100 number tiles that I picked up for next to nothing earlier in the year. (I really like the tiles since they're so durable, but you could do the same activities using cut up index cards with the numbers written on them. I suppose you could also make your own tiles with 1 inch ceramic tiles, but I've never personally done that. )

We've used these tiles for reinforcing a wide variety of basic mathematical concepts, and when we work with them, Joely doesn't even think of it as work; to her it's just a game!

Here are some of the ways we use the tiles. For many of the activities, Joely and I take turns: I choose the tiles and she solves it, and then she chooses the tiles for me to solve. The really gets a kick out of being "the teacher."

1. Separate the numbers 1-10, drop the stack of tiles in front of her, then have her put the numbers in order. I expanded the stack of tiles to include the 10's, 20's, etc., as she learned them.

2. Lay out a row of consecutive tiles, but remove one or two of the tiles, then have her tell me the numbers that are missing. Sometimes I leave a space where the number is missing, but sometimes I don't.

3. Start a pattern with the tiles, and have her figure out what comes next. Sometimes I have her just say the answers, and other times I give her a stack of tiles from which to choose the answer.

4. Randomly choose two tiles from the stack and she determines which number is larger/smaller. At first I had her just point to the larger or smaller number, but then I added the "greater than/less than" sign, and she simply turned the sign accordingly. When not using the "greater than/less than" sign, I'd often give her more than just two tiles to choose from, and she'd have to select the greatest or the smallest number from the choices as I directed. (Notice the little teeth on the "greater than/less than" sign? If you were wondering what math book I got that sign from, rest assured that it is not an "official" mathematical sign (*smile*); it's just a silly visual I added to remind Joely that the "greater than/less than" sign likes to eat the bigger number.)

5. Give her three or more random tiles, and she puts them in order from least to greatest.

6. Give her are large stack of tiles and she separates the tiles into decades (all the 20's together, all the 50's together, etc.)

Of course, there are many other activities that can be done with these tiles since they're so versatile, but these few that I've mentioned are the activities that work for Joely and me right now. If you can think of any other activities that can be done with the tiles, please leave a comment and tell me about them!

But lastly, if you already have a nice set of tiles, I'd like to stress that it is extremely important that you never allow your children to just "play" with the tiles, even if they promise you that they'll be careful with them.

Because they'll invariably lose some of them.

Like three of them (40, 63, and 94 to be exact). And then you'll be really upset.

But after a while, once you're done berating your children for…well…being children…you'll finally realize that the tiles aren't a total loss, and those three lost numbers will be barely missed. But you will have learned your lesson.

UPDATE: Some of you asked where I got my tiles. I purchased my set of number tiles used at our local homeschool store for $2, but I did a search on the internet and found a source for similar tiles to what I have here.