Division
Sharing treats and bakes
Turn treats or bakes for your child into fun activities to learn division. Give your child some treats, such as, sweets, cookies or individual cakes and ask them to share them amongst family members or friends. For example, give your child 14 sweets to share with 4 people. They should give 1 sweet at a time to each person, until there are two sweets left. Discuss that 14 sweets ‘shared by’ 4 people is 3 each, with two left over. Ask your child to write the division equation, 14÷4=3r2.
Grouping marbles
For this activity you will need a set of similar sized objects that you can easily find around your house, (buttons, sweets, pegs or marbles). You will also need some containers to put the objects in, such as, bowls or cups. Write down the problem for your child to solve, for example, 21÷5=. Ask your child to split the 21 objects into groups of 5. Place 5 of the objects into each container. They will have one left over. 21 split ‘into groups of’ 5 makes 4 groups with one left over. 21÷5=4r1.
Creating division stories
This is a fun a create way to solve division problems and help your children to apply their mathematics to everyday life. For younger children, tell them a story that involves a division problem, For example, a picnic with five friends and 10 cupcakes. How many cupcakes will they get each? Ask your child to draw a picture that demonstrates the problem and provides an answer. For older children, give them a division problem, such as, 42÷7 and ask them to create a scenario and draw a picture that shows the answer.