How do you incorporate mental maths practise into your days?

[seeyouinanotherlifewhenwearebothcats]

DS is 7 and is doing well at school. He is a keen reader but admittedly I think I have pushed reading more than mental maths because it’s something I enjoy as well. I find his mental maths is ok but he would definitely benefit from more focus on it. My question is how do you incorporate this into your days? We’ve done number bonds, doubles and near double quizzes in the car but I can’t think where else to try and insert it in our day? Thanks in advance for any tips

On longer walks can work well,

But for me before bed has worked the best. My bedtime routine with my son is that he does half of the stuff and then I do half. He picks my half, I pick his half.

I pick a simple reading book, a few maths cards (with sums on them), and anything else he is learning/doing at the time, that I want him to do.

He picks a pile of story books/comics etc. that he wants me to read.

He reads through all of his reading/maths, and then I read through the pile of stories he has picked out, then bed.

I know it isn't a really normal way, but it works really well. It feels very "fair" to a kid, so you don't get a lot of complaints, and it gives him a bit of autonomy which is always nice. But generally it has just proven a really easy way to get a bit of reading and a bit of maths in every day, which is especially important for me because I'm not in the UK and my son doesn't learn English reading at school, so it all has to come at home.

Oh @lxn889121 thank you so much for this! I really like this approach. I know I’m focusing a lot at reading at bedtime but getting some cards would be a fun quick fire way of incorporating it in at bedtime. Will also try on long walks! Thank you 🙂

Have you tried taking him to the supermarket? My ds is a bit older but we discuss the prices of things, what the best value is (price per item vs price overall), adding things up to what our budget is etc, you can just round them if things get tricky.

While driving, estimate arrival times dynamically:
“If traffic averages 42 mph for 18 miles, what is the ETA?”
“If speed drops by 15%, how much delay accumulates?”

We do a lot of practicing on the go - we cycle everywhere so I yell sums at her as we go. Plus do a bit of ‘day to day’ maths where we can, as PPs say. Getting her to use the numbers we come up against while cooking etc.

Great ideas! Thank you all

My dad was a coalminer who had English as a second language. He used to delight in wordplay and numerical puzzles.

He was on shift work all the time, so he'd quiz me on various puzzles while he was working around the house and garden at the weekend. I have a vivid memory of him shovelling coal into the coal shed whilst grinning and making me think through puzzles.

"Then you give half to the poor...How much money do you have left?" [I'm really frustrated that I can't remember all of that!]

I'm afraid that I've not been able to find any of those that Dad used with me back in the '60s, but a search has brought up this website:

www.mindyourlogic.com/math-challenge/math-riddles-50-best-puzzles-with-answers-for-kids-adults

Lovely thread, lots of ideas here I am going to nick myself. A couple that have not come up yet that worked well for us at that age:

Cards and dice. A normal pack of cards is brilliant: flip two and he adds them (or multiplies them once he is ready), highest total wins the pair, a bit like a maths version of snap. Dice are the same idea, roll two or three and race to add them. It is quick, it is competitive, and it does not feel like practice.

A "number of the day" game. Pick a target (we used the date, so the 14th means 14) and see how many ways he can make it: 7 plus 7, 20 take 6, double 7. Brilliant in the car or waiting anywhere, and it stretches him without feeling like a quiz.

Cooking, properly hands on. Halving and doubling a recipe is sneaky fraction and times-tables practice, and weighing things out is measurement without him noticing.

The other honest thing I would add: some days I just do not have the energy to invent sums, and that is where a short app session saves me. Something that adapts to where he actually is can keep the daily habit going on the days real life gets in the way, even if it is only ten minutes. For a keen reader who is a bit lighter on maths, that little-and-often approach is exactly what closes the gap, so you are already on the right track just by thinking about it.

almost forgot, I also use mathstutor.me daily. The lessons are really short so you can do them in no time.

I bought a magnetic white board that I have stuck on the fridge. We take it in turns to write/answer problems on the board. He likes it as he thinks he is the teacher 😂

Loads more amazing ideas, thank you all!