The children begin to perform mathematical operations even before being aware of it. It is at the beginning of elementary school when that knowledge begins to develop, but until then, through play and many of the actions of the day to day, the children are learning to add and subtract in a simple way. For them, it is very difficult to understand the abstract concept, but if you use visual elements, they will be able to understand it easily.
Starting at home with this learning is very beneficial for children, as is literacy. Acquiring this basic knowledge will help them to better understand the concepts in class. For it, it is best to start with a simple explanation of what it means to add and subtract. Afterwards, you can start with some simple operations like the ones you will find below.
What is adding and what is subtracting
A brief explanation is essential for children to know what is adding and what is the difference with subtracting.
- What is a sum: adding is putting two or more things together in a group, in order to know how many there are in total. For example, to find out how many stories are on your shelf, we have to add them all together.
- What is a subtraction: subtract is to remove one or more parts of something we already have. For example, if we have added and we have 5 stories, what happens if we give one of them to a cousin? we are doing a subtraction.
Simple addition and subtraction
These are the ones that do not exceed the number 10, when we exceed ten, we must learn to perform somewhat more complicated operations. But we will do that later when the children have a good understanding of simple addition and subtraction. Here are some examples of simple addition and subtraction for children to begin their journey through the wonderful, yet complicated, world of mathematics.
There is nothing like using the materials we have at home, like the stories we use to explain what adding is. At home you can find an infinite number of perfect materials for children to learn to add, use them and they will soon learn to perform mathematical operations on paper. You can use apples, dolls, toy cars and even make small tiles with the numbers for the children to use in their operations.
Make sure that all the additions and subtractions result in simple figures, that do not exceed 10 until they fully acquire the concept. Use two baskets to separate the quantities, for example, If I have 3 apples in one basket and two in the other basket, how many apples do I have in all? With patience and perseverance, they will soon be able to perform these simple operations.