One of the best ways to learn is by doing. Textbooks, workbooks and online lessons provide great resources for learning, but they aren’t the only way children can learn math. You can incorporate math into everyday life and help your children learn without calling it school work.

Cooking Math

One of the best ways to incorporate math into everyday life is by allowing your children to help you cook. Many children enjoy helping their parents prepare meals, so have your child strap on an apron and get started. Allow your child to help you measure quantities of dry and liquid ingredients in the kitchen. As he gets the hang of it, turn your child loose to handle the measurements himself. What better way to learn how many tablespoons are in a quarter cup? Your child can also learn fractions by helping you double a recipe to feed several family members or pare one down to nourish just the two of you. He’ll learn multiplication, division, addition, subtraction and even fractions each time he helps, without ever cracking a textbook.

Play Date Calculations

Play dates also provide opportunities to encourage your children to use math. Let’s say, for example, your daughter has three friends over for a visit and wants a snack to share. Instead of doling out an equal number of snacks for each child, allow your child to do it. Give her a set number of carrot sticks, mini banana muffins, or cookies (whatever you like) and have her figure out how many each child should receive. Having homemade pizza? Have her tell you how many slices to cut the pizza into to ensure that each child receives the same number.

Grocery Store Math

Trips to the grocery can provide great opportunities for everyday math as well. Have your child decide which deal is the best by figuring out unit prices for sale-priced items. For example, if noodles are on sale at five boxes for $4.00 but another brand is on sale for 79 cents per box, have your child compare the unit price for those that are on sale to the regularly priced noodles. He may be surprised to learn the sale price doesn’t offer real savings, and while discovering this, your child is doing multiplication and division.

Discounts and Taxes

When your child is ready to work with percentages, have her help you figure out just how much of a discount she’ll get when an item is marked down. For instance, if she’s getting 10 or 25 percent off a toy or a pair of jeans, how much is she saving? If she buys a book and tax is added, how much will she pay?

Yard Sale Math

Yard sales also provide math-from-real-life lessons. Have your child handle a table of his own, collect money and make change. Lemonade stands are good for this as well. Ask your child to figure out how much you’ve earned by subtracting the money you started with (usually a small amount for making change) from the amount you end with. If you spend any money on supplies for the sale, such as on fliers or lemons, have your child help you to calculate your profit as well.

Math for Older Kids

Older children may benefit from helping you to balance your checkbook or calculate the interest they are earning on their savings accounts. If your child is earning money from a part-time job or receiving an allowance, have her create a budget for spending some of her money and saving the rest. If she has a goal in mind for her savings, figuring out how long she’ll need to save to reach her goal may boost her math skills.

Even the youngest child can learn math through everyday life. I taught all of my daughters to count. My son, however, beat me to the punch. He taught himself to count the little dots on the dice while we played Monopoly!

Nikki Madison is the mother of four homeschooled children and a freelance writer. After an initial year of trying to mold her oldest to fit an award-winning math curriculum, she learned to choose and adjust curriculum materials to suit the needs of her children.