Fraction Fun: Help Your Child Understand Fractions at Home

This article will provide fraction help to children by using a simple hands-on activity. By using a simple egg carton, you can help your child better understand and figure out fractions. Show your child how to fill it and what the fraction is written as. Later on you can use similar activities to teach equivalent fractions.

Procedure:

Find a simple recipe at home that involves fractions for the amounts of ingredients. This will generate interest for your child in an everyday activity that involves math. For example a chocolate chip recipe involves the following ingredients:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup shortening

2/3 cup white sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 ½ cups chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup chopped nuts

2 cups oatmeal

Demonstrating a Fraction

Take an egg carton made for 1 dozen (12) eggs. Use the egg carton as a tool to teach and model fractions. The size of an egg carton does not change. The child should demonstrate to you what simple fractions are by putting eggs into the carton. You could use marbles, buttons or other things to place in the egg carton if you do not want to use eggs.

Ask your child to show you the fraction 4 / 12 by filling some of the egg carton. The child will understand that you place the amount out of 12 into the carton. On a piece of paper have them fill in the numerator as they fill in the amount you ask for. The denominator is 12 and can be written in also. As you ask for different fractions, they will notice that the denominator doesn’t change. They may begin to understand that a denominator is the stable amount, the container which doesn’t change, represented by the egg carton. They then will understand that part of it is being filled. This part is the numerator and will be written on the top of a fraction.