There are many ways to practice basic facts at home:
- Buy or make flash cards (they're at the dollar store).
- Print out or make worksheets. Here's one website that allows you to make worksheets (I'd do just simple addition or subtraction in less than ten or twenty). Here's another one for addition (if you click around, you'll find other math operations).
- Throw out math facts in the car while you drive around.
- Practice skip counting while you wait (2, 4, 6, etc.; 3, 6, 9, etc.; 5, 10, 15, etc.; 10, 20, 30, 40, etc.).
- Do math facts on windows with dry-erase markers or window markers.
Easy, fun little games:
- Friends of ten: I hold up a certain number of fingers, and you tell me the friend of ten math fact: I hold up six fingers. You say "six plus four equals ten!"
- More than-less than: I say "one more than" or "two more than" (or less than) a number, and you tell me what the number is: I say "two less than nine," and you say "seven!"
- Race to Thirty: roll two dice, add the numbers together and write down the sum. Whoever gets to 30 first wins! (You can also play friends of ten with one dice.)
- Slap Jack addition: take out the face cards and divide the deck in half. Each player turns over one card at a time. Whoever smacks the cards first AND can say the addition fact and its answer gets to keep the cards.
Other ways to practice basic facts with everyday objects:
- Count money: count by fives, tens, twenty-fives, 100s. Use pennies to practice addition and subtraction. Count a handful of change (start with the bigger amounts first).
- Calendar: how many days until? How many days ago?
I'll keep adding here as I think of more!
