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Find ways to practice number operations at home.
  • Practice counting down from any double-digit number. For example, use a calendar to count down the number of days to an upcoming event.
  • Prepare for multiplication by helping your child think in groups. Ask “how many fingers do five people have?”
  • Try a variation on the card game “War.” When the higher card takes the lower card, subtract the lower number from the higher number, and the player who won that play wins those points.
  • Give your child the change in your pocket and ask how many different ways she can make 25 cents.
  • Play a variation on the game “Go Fish.” Instead of asking for cards with numbers that match, players take turns asking for cards that, added to the card she has, adds up to 10. Count face cards as zero, aces as 1’s.
Find ways to develop reasoning skills.
  • If your child knows that 4 quarters is 1 dollar, can he figure out what 6 quarters is?
  • Ask your child to estimate the height of a tree by estimating how much higher it might be than an 8′ fence next to it.

  • Find ways to collect and organize information

  • Read sports score tables, weather charts, and other common numerical information you find in the news.
  • As you’re shopping, compare the amounts in the Nutrition Facts on packaged foods or the amounts in various containers of similar products.
  • Take measurements for a project around the house. How many inches are there? How many feet? How many yards

  • Some family games that help develop math skills:

  • At this age kids are developing more complex ways of reasoning — they like strategic thinking games like checkers, chess, Monopoly, and Clue.
  • Dominoes

(These suggestions came from: http://www.dreambox.com/parent-tips-second-grade.)