9 Great Picture Books That Help Your Kid Learn Math

When asked, many kids will say that math is their least favorite subject.  Traditional methods involve formulas, drills, and no explaining why we are learning something.  But math doesn’t have to be this way.  Here are some great illustrated picture books for kids that explain math concepts – how they work in pictures, and most importantly, WHY these ideas are important and useful.

A Very Improbable Story

by Edward Einhorn

A boy wakes up with a cat on his head that won’t get off until the boy wins a game of probability using objects around his house

One Grain of Rice

by Demi

The power of compounding interest is said to be the Eighth Wonder of the World and is illustrated for kids by the story of a young girl who feeds her village by doubling a grain of rice every day for 30 days

Anno’s Mysterious Multpilying Jar

by Masaichiro and Mitsumasa Anno

Factorials, or multiplying 1 x 2 x 3 x 4….etc is demonstrated in a way kids can visualize

You Can Count on Monsters

by Richard Even Schwartz

The numbers 1 to 100 are illustrated as monsters in order to demonstrate what the difference is between prime and composite numbers

G is for Googol:  A Math Alphabet Book

by David M. Schwartz

Each page illustrates a concept in math such as binary code, exponents, and probability, along with where we see it in the world

Sir Cumference series

by Cindy Neuschwander

Sir Cumference, Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius are characters that simplify math concepts while telling entertaining stories set in medieval times.  Each book takes one topic such as the base 10 number system or measuring the area of a circle. 

How Much is a Million?

by David M. Schwartz

A wizard shows a group of kids what the number one million means in whimsical illustration

What's Your Angle Pythagoras 

by Julie Ellis

Pythagoras helps his father by discovering the secret of the right triangle and a practical use for it

Pythagorus and the Ratios

by Julie Ellis

Pythagoras and his cousins want to win a music contest, but can’t understand why their instruments sound so bad and so different from one another.  Comparing their instruments to his, Pythagoras discovers that notes that sound melodious together have certain mathematical ratios.

Why Developing Your Child’s Spatial Skills Could Help Your Child Learn Math

American universities report that a startling 60 % of incoming students need remedial math help.  It is a shocking fact that American students are paying additional college tuition to learn high school level math, in order to continue with their education.  After 12 years in school, why are so many not fully prepared for college?

Studies find that kids who are behind in math in the early grades tend to stay behind.  Math classes build on prior learning, so if a student doesn’t have a strong foundation in numeracy, they will continue to struggle in math.  And, many American children cite math class as their most hated.  So, can parents keep kids from falling behind and inspire an interest in exploring math?

Does your child like to play with blocks, puzzles, and board games?  If so, they are developing their spatial ability – and at the same time, improving their math skills.

Spatial ability is the comprehension and recall of the spatial relations between objects.  This ability is seen as a specific type of intelligence along with logical reasoning, verbal aptitude, and memory skills.  This type of intelligence itself is broken down into subtypes, such as the ability to rotate objects in one’s mind.

We use spatial skills in our everyday life, for example, when we parallel park, navigate with a map, catch a ball, or rearrange furniture.  Spatial ability is also used in math class, for example, understanding a number line, finding geometric patterns, or determining whether an object is vertically or horizontally symmetrical.

Spatial reasoning strongly correlates with math skills.  For example, children’s quality of block play at age four has been found to predict their math achievement in high school.  Also, when researchers directed fourth graders’ attention to the symmetry between positive and negative numbers (that -3  is the same distance from zero on a number line as + 3, for example), the students got better at solving problems in that area – and in higher level math they hadn’t seen before.

Spatial skills have been found to explain at least part of the difference in math grades between girls and boys.   Traditionally, boys have played more with toys like blocks and construction sets than girls.

Both math and spatial skills are not inborn abilities – they are learned through practice.  Math knowledge in the early grades lays the foundation and builds confidence for kids in the upper grades and beyond.  Parents who play math games with their kids help them improve their math performance.

Math board games often have a spatial element – for example, Chutes & Ladders arranges the number line into groups of ten, helping kids understand our base 10 number system, along with aiding them with addition and subtraction skills.   Playing games and doing puzzles are great ways to stimulate a child’s spatial and math skills while having fun. 

There is no such thing as a “math person”

The best way to learn is to play.

Pay Gap Between High School & College Educated Americans is at Widest Ever

College graduates earned 56% more on average than high school grads in 2015, according to recent reports by the Economic Policy Institute. This is an increase of 51% in 1999 and is the largest increase since the EPI began tracking this data in 1973.  College graduates were also employed at a higher rate to begin with (83%) than high school grads (66%). 

It used to be that a person could drop out of high school and get honest work that paid enough to start a family with.   Things changed slowly, and businesses operated using landline telephones and the mail.  People expected to be in their line of work for a lifetime.  Society had a need for people to do work that doesn’t exist as an occupation in today’s high tech, self-serve environment. 

For example, there was a time when even an elevator required a trained professional operator (see Why Elevator Operators Went Extinct) But improved technology eliminated that job, and the elevator operators had to look for other work.  Most parents today know what steno was – but our kids don’t because dictation is dead thanks to word processing.  Kids also don’t plan to be travel agents anymore – there are still a few, but they mostly operate at the luxury end of the market.  Will cab drivers be next thanks to driverless cars?  Or is Uber already making full time driving as a profession obsolete?

But the wage disparity didn’t start with the iphone or the internet.  According to the EPI, a large gap in wages goes back to 1979.  The average of the bottom 90% of American workers by income was $28,559.  By 2015, it only averaged $34,481 (about 22% higher, 36 years later).  The top 5% of wage earners averaged $142,817 in 1979 and by 2015 were earning, on average, $287,983 – more than doubling during the same time period.  As more of the simplest jobs become automated and technology changes, there will be more need for educated workers such as computer programmers and healthcare specialists.

All signs point to the importance ofa college education in the 21st century.  To be sure, there will always be some jobs that don’t require one.   But as the simplest jobs become automated, there will be fewer to be had.  The only thing that seems certain is that today’s kids will need a solid foundation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) along with a college education, to achieve the American Dream. 

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How Can Using Symmetry Help Teach My Child How Negative Numbers Work?

What Does Symmetry Have to Do With Teaching Kids About Negative Numbers?

Negative numbers are closely related to the idea of symmetry. Students use their perception of visual symmetry to help them understand the abstract symmetry of integers along the number line.

Using symmetry appears to help not just in teaching children negative numbers, but in improving their ability to solve higher-level math problems they haven’t seen before.  In studies, participants were likely to incorporate symmetry as an almost automatic part of their thinking. That’s important because many skills – such as decoding words in reading – are more effective when they become instantaneous and reflexive.

The biggest surprise was on what educational researchers call “generativity” – the tendency of kids to apply the ideas of symmetry on their own to problems they haven’t encountered before.   They did surprisingly well with word problems using spatial positions, negative fractions, and introductory algebra.

So as it turned out, students who learned to rely on symmetry didn’t simply do better than other students on the material they had just been taught. They also did better on math topics that they hadn’t yet studied.   

Research has also shown that the more parents of kindergarteners do math related activities with their children – such as board and card games – the better their math performance in 1st and 2nd grade. The good news is that math skills are learned through practice, and math knowledge is gained through experience. Playing a game makes that process fun and easy.   

The best way for kids to learn anything is through play

Creature Quest is the math board game that teaches kids how positive & negative numbers work

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Why Your Child Will Loose Out on the American Dream Without This

During this latest recession, millions of Americans have become unemployed. Layoffs, factory closings, and downsizings have become commonplace. Factory jobs are leaving the U.S. at an alarming rate because the American worker just cannot compete with workers in low wage countries for those jobs. Even clerical work, once easy to get, is now disappearing. Because of changes in technology and many companies’ reluctance to hire support personnel, many employees have to do their own secretarial work.


More and more jobs are going overseas, and the trend shows no signs of slowing or stopping. And, jobs that go overseas go overseas permanently. By the time today’s kids are adults, there will probably certain categories of jobs that have gone entirely overseas.

However, the clear trend is that people with the most education suffer the least unemployment. Those with the least education suffer the most unemployment and have the hardest time getting a job. A factory job that requires little education is easily moved overseas. A position that requires an advanced degree is not so easy to fill in an impoverished country with a poor education system. Clearly, in order to be recession resistant, you have to have a good education.

According to the most recent figures from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for high school graduates is more than double that of people with a 4 year degree: 8.4% vs. 4.1%. Also, the New York Times reports that the typical college graduates makes about 75% more every week than the typical non-graduate.

Pay Gap Between High School and College Educated Americans is at Widest Ever

The number of people who have a college degree has been increasing significantly over time. According to the U.S. Census, back in 1950 only 34.3% of American adults over 25 had a high school diploma, only 6.2% had a bachelor’s degree or more.

 

By 2010, 87% of adults over 25 had at least a high school diploma (or equivalent), and at least 30% of adults over 25 had earned at least bachelor’s degree.


With college degrees (and educational attainment) increasing, competition for the best jobs will surely increase. By the time today’s kids are in the workforce, a graduate degree will surely be needed to have an edge in the employment market, make the most money, and have the best chance of achieving the American Dream.


The bottom line is, you can raise your children to be in either one of two categories: untrained and uneducated, with a few limited options left to chance, or well educated and in demand. In which category would you rather your children be?


In order to increase the chances that your child will pursue higher education and ultimately obtain a graduate degree, you have to provide them with as much enrichment, stimulation, and encouragement as possible. The best way to do this is to make learning fun from a young age. The music the child listens to, the books they are read, and the toys they play with all serve to stimulate their mind and expand their creativity, advancing their intellectual development.

What Every Learning Toy Should Do

1. It should be directed by the child. The child should not be a spectator, the child must be actively playing with and controlling the toy. Otherwise, how is the toy any different from mindless TV? The more the child has to think, the more the child benefits.


2. It should challenge the child. If a child finds a game too easy, it won’t be engaging, and the child won’t want to play with it. A challenge keeps the child interested and moving forward.


3. It should broaden the child’s horizons. A toy should expose a child to something new to them, or make them think or respond in a new way.


If you want your child to be average, then average toys, games, and learning materials might do. But if you want your child to have a head start on their education and development, then great learning toys will give them a great start.

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Unique Educational Toys



3 Ways Parents Waste Their Kids' Time

Many American children today are falling further and further behind in their education each year because of cuts to school funding. With fewer factory jobs remaining in the U.S., a good education has become essential to finding a well-paying job in today’s information and technology oriented economy. Tomorrow’s economy will be even more competitive, and Americans will be competing for jobs on a global level. All parents want their child to achieve the American Dream. However, the schools do not - by themselves - determine whether children have what they need to succeed. The parents are in the driver’s seat when it comes to how their children’s time is spent outside the classroom. They can make a huge difference in their child’s future by avoiding these common mistakes.

Allowing too much “screen time”

The average American child spends 28 hours each week watching television, which translates into 1,456 hours per year, and 24, 752 hours by the time they turn 18 (assuming they begin at their first birthday, which many do). 24,752 hours is approximately 2 years and 9 months out of their childhood spent staring at a T.V. Time in front of the T.V. is time NOT spent on: reading, exercising, doing puzzles, drawing, playing with other children, doing schoolwork, and other activities that help a child learn and grow as a person. In the time most kids spend in front of the T.V. they could have learned a second language or gotten a black belt in karate!

Failing to make sure their child reads on a daily basis

In New York City, roughly 75 percent of public high school students who enroll in community colleges need to take remedial math or English courses before they can begin college-level work. At the very least this means that college students, or their parents, must pay for additional courses on top of the usual costs of college tuition. According to the National Educational Association Today, the only way for kids to become good readers is to practice. Even small amounts of reading each week add up over the years.

Neglecting the Arts

Many parents believe that art and music are “frills” and don’t realize that the arts can have a major impact on other areas of learning. In a U.C.L.A. study of Chicago area schools, elementary students who attended schools where the arts were integrated into the classroom curriculum outperformed their peers in math who were not in the program. More than 60 percent of these students, involved with the Chicago Arts Partnership in Education, performed at or above grade level on the math section of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills compared with 40 percent of their peers (who could fall further and further behind each year). Any artistic activity from painting, to visiting local art museums, to taking music lessons can have lasting benefits for developing mind.


So, how can parents provide better learning opportunities outside the classroom?

Here are a few suggestions that cost little or nothing in time or money:

- Limit or eliminate T.V. Most parents will not get rid of the television entirely, but placing clear limits on viewing time – like no T.V. on school nights – will force kids to find other activities to amuse themselves with (or finish their school assignments). Some parents worry that as soon as they turn off the T.V. their children will complain of being bored, but boredom is often needed as a motivator to get the child to amuse themselves in a productive way – by finding a new hobby, playing a board game with their siblings, or participating in sports.

- Go to the library at least once a month. Almost every U.S. household has access to a public library nearby, and many have an interlibrary loan system to provide access to books that their library doesn’t stock. Many have a children’s librarian who can recommend good books and help find them on the shelves. Parents pay taxes for these services, so why not use them?

9 Great Picture Books to Help Your Child Learn Math

- Start your child off on an art project. It can be as simple as setting up crayons and paper at the kitchen table and prompting them to draw, asking them to make a homemade birthday card, or decorating cookies with colored icing and candies. There are books with kids’ projects in the local library and plenty of free online sites to give parents and kids ideas for activities. Even just looking at different types of painting exposes a child to different art and broadens their horizons.

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