Math Stories
Stories are a fun way to add interest to calculations. Here are two examples of such stories:
Chairs
There are four chairs in a room. At first there are two people, but then three more come along. Can everyone sit down? This is more interesting than simply asking if 2 + 3 is larger than 4.
Ice cream
My two friends and I are having ice cream. I will give each of my friends one more scoop than I get. If there are ten scoops of ice cream, how many scoops of ice cream can I have?
Variations
Pick topics that interest your child, such as food or animals. As your child gets better at this, let some of the stories be somewhat vague so your child will need to analyze more and learn to ask clarifying questions.
Variable names
Introduce the idea of variable names by using silly names for missing numbers in activities.