The attached booklet has been designed with you, the parents, in mind. It is meant to be a companion guide and support booklet for parents who are keen on using the home as a place to support the development of mathematical thinking in their children. In this booklet, there are many games and activities that we hope you will find useful and that you will adapt to meet the specific needs that exist in your home environment.

The aim of the booklet is to support the current thrust of the National Mathematics Team (working through the Core Curriculum Unit) of “Putting Mathematics into Family Life”. To use the booklet or the activities, you require no special knowledge of mathematics or of teaching the subject. All the activities can be readily included in the daily tasks and routines of most households, and the games require very few materials that are not usually found in most homes (such as dice, dominoes and a deck of playing cards). You can engage your children in these activities without much effort, expenditure, set-up time or pre-planning.

As you become familiar with the content of the booklet, you will appreciate that the activities and suggestions were selected with great consideration for parents who either have little time for, knowledge of, or skill in teaching the subject. All parents can access the content – from the highly proficient at mathematics to those who lack confidence in the subject and think that they are not capable of supporting their children.