Ideas to Support Your Child's Learning All Year Round
Ideas to Support Your Child with Writing
- Have FUN writing together at home
- Encourage your child to write on paper or on the computer
- Write a wide range of texts, e.g. lists, cards, emails to friends and family, letters, notes, a diary, invitations, postcards, dinner menus, jokes, poems, rhymes, blogs...
- Talk about letters of the alphabet – practise writing them together
- Have a range of pencils, pens, crayons, felts, paper available to use
- Put magnetic letters on the fridge and make words together
- Create a photo book and get your child to write the captions
- Use old magazine pictures and make a scrapbook – paste in pictures and write captions
- Keep a diary, especially if you are doing something different – your child can draw the pictures or stick in the photos
- Create a webpage together on the computer
- Cut out letters from old magazines and newspapers to make secret messages; write secret messages and hide them for others to find
- Display your child’s writing proudly and share it with others
- Talk about interesting words
- Play word games together, e.g. find how many little words are in the word ‘hippopotamus’
- Write for a real purpose – write the shopping list; write invitations to a birthday party...
- Write about your ancestors; heroes; sports events; your hobbies and interests
- Do ‘word finds’, crosswords, and word puzzles together
- Look words up in the dictionary or on the internet
- Write to your child
- Start a blog about a family interest
- Write in your first language
- BE A GREAT ROLE MODEL. Show your child that you write for all sorts of reasons. Let them see that you enjoy writing.
Tips to Support Your Child with Maths
- Be positive about Maths
- Find numbers around your home and neighbourhood
- Count forwards and backwards
- Make patterns when counting
- Make up number stories, e.g. ‘You have 1 brother and 3 sisters. There are 4 children altogether.’
- Involve your child in everyday things that involve numbers/maths – such as sharing out food – 2 for you and 2 for me, how many is that altogether?
- Use everyday words like “under, over, below, beside, in front of, behind, light, heavy, first, last...
- Ask questions about pictures, e.g. “How many cats are there?”
- Play games and do puzzles – use words like inside, outside, between, above, below…
- Encourage your child to look for patterns
- Cook together – measure out ingredients – talk about large, small, heavy, more, less…
- Do water play with different-shaped containers and measuring cups
- Make up addition and subtraction problems using the calendar, e.g. “How many days are there until Christmas?”
- Play number games, e.g. 'Name the number that is 10 more than...?', 'What number is 10 less than...?'
- Make patterns when counting in groups such as 5, 10, 15, 20...
- Do addition and subtraction problems in your head using the basic facts, e.g. 10 + 5 = ? 6 – 4 = ?
- Involve your child in telling the time – half past, a quarter past, a quarter to, o’clock
Maths booklets to download (PDF format):
Mathematics Games Booklet Year 3 »