The Ways to Teach Addition

Starting With You

• One of the easiest items a child can relate to is his fingers. For very small and simple addition, the fingers work well as a tool. Assuming the child knows his basic numbers, take one set of fingers from one hand, another set of fingers from the other hand, and count how many fingers there are total. Using fingers and small numbers can serve as a foundation to more complicated operations in the future. It does have its limits though -- as you might have to move on to toes very quickly.

Around the House

• Very similar to using fingers is conceptualizing combining objects around the house. Toys become especially useful for this task as they will easily hold a child's attention. Alternatively, food can be an excellent learning tool -- assuming it's not too messy. Candy can be used as a motivator; if the child gets the answer right, she gets a reward. Of course, healthier alternatives can be substituted. Scattering the objects in easy-to-understand arrangements helps in differentiating the idea of taking two separate numbers and combining them.

Games

• After a child understands the basics of addition, it's time to move on to more complex addition -- namely, adding big numbers. Games become extremely useful for this task. Board games -- such as Monopoly -- center around the idea of managing money and purchases, requiring consistent adding to achieve success. Even some video games -- such as Super Mario Brothers -- require coin collection, which involves adding. If you can get your child to pay close attention, playing a game might just become a useful learning toy.

Classroom Technique

• If you're teaching addition on a large scale in a classroom setting, techniques can be taught in a group format. One idea is to create a virtual store. The teacher acts as the merchant, selling products from around the classroom. Students are each given play money, representing designated monetary amounts. After making a purchase, students must add their money together to understand their current balance. The same game can be used in reverse for subtraction.