[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Children grow up so fast; one moment you’re feeding them pureed food from a spoon and the next, you’re trying to teach them the basics of language and math skills. As a parent in today’s day and age, it’s expected of you to know more fun and interactive ways to teach kids. When it comes to arithmetic skills, teaching young kids is going to be a tough task. Addition and subtraction are the foundation of mathematics and some of the most important skills for kids so a solid understanding of it’s concepts are essential for your child to build strong mathematical skills in the coming years. While addition is always a little easy for kids to understand, many children often struggle with subtraction. And in this blog, we will provide you with the answer to your ongoing question of How to Teach Kids Subtraction.
The easiest way for young kids to understand subtraction is as something taken away or a loss or decrease of quantity. It’s important to give them plenty of examples with a very small subtrahend (e.g., involving a decrease of one or two) such that they can use their counting experience to give the answer and more time is spent in understanding the problem scenarios. Ideally, kids should have mastered the concept of basic addition and subtraction by grade one. so here’s How to Teach Kids Subtraction.
To help you out, here are five simple and different ways which would help children grasp the concept of subtraction:
1. Use the reliable Number Line
Using the number line to teach basic subtraction helps your child conceptualize the idea and process of subtraction. Show them how moving left and right on the number line works. Then ask them to subtract 1s & 2s from single-digit numbers up to 10. When they are comfortable with it, let them tackle bigger numbers and more complex subtraction sums. And this is one of the most effective ways to answer your question about How to Teach Kids Subtraction.
2. Make use of fun songs and stories
Starting from the basics, one way to explain subtraction to kids is that it’s the opposite of addition. For addition, kids tend to learn by counting forward, so to subtract, they now just need to count backwards.
Fun and interactive stories and songs are very good ways of making ideas stick. Simple concepts of mathematics can be found in a variety of cute songs, most of which are hugely popular. Then there are plenty of kids’ books and even online story books that outline the concept of math so make use of it to help your child out with math.
3. Throw in some chocolates and candies to help
Give your child five candies or chocolates and take four away. Ask them how many candies they had before. Then repeat this activity with different objects, changing the numbers. When kids are interested in having more of something, you can use it to teach them the concept of “less” and “more”, which can help greatly in getting kids to grasp the concept of subtraction.
4. Use the power of visualization for better memory
Make use of visual tools like charts, figures and shapes to help your kids easily remember the concepts of subtraction. The methods and process of subtraction can be tricky and confusing for little ones so try to make it as interesting and fun as possible by using a lot of visual cues to ease the process.
5. Give them plenty of practice
Once your child has grasped the basic facts and is comfortable with subtraction, it’s very important to encourage them to practice using worksheets. Worksheets are an excellent way of getting some writing practice and applying the concepts to subtract numbers on paper. Remember to reward your child after he/she is done. Also remember to check which areas they are lacking at or having trouble with, so you can focus on those concepts later.
From the basics, your tot will gradually move onto more complex mathematical sums and calculations. The methods they will be taught in school will sometimes be more formal than the ones that are outlined here. But by helping and teaching them to visualize the methods early on, kids will have a stronger grasp of how subtraction, or mathematics as a whole, works. With that foundation, they will be ready for whatever sums or calculations that follow![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
