While I designed this website to have many resources parents can use, here are some fantastic free math resources specifically for parents.
Bedtime Math– Bedtime math can be just as much a fun part of your family’s nightly routine as a bedtime story! These stories and related problems are designed for parents to share with their children ages 3-9. You can sign up for a daily email, download the app or check the website each day. It is completely free!
ST Math Resources for Parents and Families. ST Math itself is on my recommended list of math websites for kids to use directly. However, they also offer a great parents’ resource page with links to articles from the Mind Research Institute.
The National Museum of Mathematics in New York offers online student sessions you can sign your children up for. Classes are offered for preK- 8th grade. The sessions are one time and last 45 minutes each.Many are free; others cost $5 for members and $15 for non members.
Outschool.
Outschool offers over 140,000 online classes for kids of all ages. Both one time and ongoing classes are available. The directory is free to search; the classes do have a cost but it is most cases very small.
Numberblocks
Numberblocks is a BBC show currently available on Netflix. (Many of the 5 minute episodes also are on YouTube.) This show is a fantastic resource for teaching number sense in a very fun and creative way. Follow this link to my full post about the show, its website, and related manipulatives and activities.
Math in Daily Life
Finally, don’t underestimate the importance of all the every day things your family probably already does that contribute to your child’s mathematical learning!
- Play board, card and dice games (see my recommended list here) There are so many ways to “sneak in” extra math- one of my favorites is to play any game with points and ask how many points the winner won by!
- Check out Denise Gaskins’ Let’s Play Math list of fun family games to play together
- Do puzzles together.
- Let your child help with cooking.
- Let your child help when you need to measure or build things.
- Talk about the math when you go shopping.
- Read books about math concepts. (here’s my Picture Books About Mathematicians list)
- Provide toys that encourage mathematical thinking such as shape blocks, magna tiles or magformers, Legos, gears sets, Tinker Toys, etc.
- Also consider investing in math manipulatives for home. Students are usually limited in school to using these with very specific instructions, but the benefits of free exploration, discovery, and just unstructured play with them are numerous!
I hope you find these free math resources for parents helpful! More free parent resources (including the ones in the picture) are described and linked in my Mastering Math Through Play PDF available for free download on the home page of this site! If you are a homeschool parent please also see Free Resources for Teaching Math
