I am by NOOOO means a femi-nazi (no offense to feminists, I am just an old-fashioned girl, and have nothing ideologically against it) but I am posting for Ada Lovelace Day because she was a smart woman who was a successful mathematician and the world's first computer programmer, which I am so in awe of. (I got stuck in Algebra I twice and finished with a 55 in Algebra III, so anyone who can define the word algorithm, or give an example of one makes me stare in wonder.) So in honor of Ada Lovelace Day, here are some fun ideas of ways to make your own daughters enjoy MATH and SCIENCE lessons-- without them knowing that's what you are doing;).
Cooking: Young girls will love helping you measure out ingredients for a batch of cookies or a cake. For older children you can do percentages using the daily allowances, and use these numbers to help them decide how to make smart food choices.
Chores: Sorting and organizing are a great way to get helpful toddlers involved in math, and it'll help you get some stuff done around the house.
Grocery Store: Your kids might like playing kitchen, but give them some play money or monopoly money and set up prices for food and charge each other! It'll be interesting to see how they try to figure out what to spend their money on or if they have enough to buy sissy's produce.
Puzzles: Logic & geometry are very important math skills that can really be started early-- get wooden knob puzzles for children as early as 6 months, and make them available for clapping and smacking.
Reading a Clock: We forget the importance of this sometimes in a world with digital everything-- but what're they going to do when they get to Big Ben and the clock is ANALOG? As soon as they are able to read numbers, you can start teaching them with digital clocks and then around 4-5 years old, start explaining the analog clock. Once they've learned the hours, they can start with the minutes and they already know the fives multiplication table! So now that your 3 year old knows to stay in bed until the clock says SEVEN-Oh-Oh, you can thank me.
Music: Studies show that students who do study music also excel in math classes. The rigor and responsibility in becoming really, really good at an instrument can be applied to other studies and the success in this subject will bolster her self-esteem, since it really is a skill that people will commend her for. So if your child is struggling in math but likes music, encourage her to rock with the band!
Art Too Can Help: Manipulating mediums to see shapes and patterns, designs and spatial relationships will help her when she is learning geometry skills, and if she goes into any sort of artistic career, she will have to have some pretty strong computer skills down the road. Explain to her how they are related, and a child who is determined to be an artist will feel a stronger urgency to pick up a mouse.
Any skill that boosts her self-image and self-motivation also can play a big part in being a Math/Science babe. You want her to feel confident enough in the math classroom, because at an early age, when girls are learning the foundational skills for math and science, ofttimes boys are louder or more rambunctious, and get a lot of attention from the math teachers. She had to be willing to ask for help in math and get the teacher to show her how to do things sometimes, because sometimes girls really don't want to speak up. And remember-- this is a world where girls can do whatever they want, so try not to sex-type her, but if she wants to be a girly-girl, don't discourage her and cut down her self-worth. You can use her girly play as a means to teach math and science too. And if she wants to go to the park and collect bugs, Yay for that too. She can do it!
