How can we make children enjoy maths??

Maths is one of those subjects that not many children say they enjoy and for many it is a chore or struggle when asked to do maths work. This is the issue for a few of my children and I have been observing them and trying to understand why this is.

One claimed to me just the other day that MATH stands for Mental Abuse To Humans!!
For someone who enjoys maths I was shocked to hear this.

Years ago when I was in school teaching 4 year olds, maths was a fun lesson. We would relate numbers to objects, play games, count objects, make a pretend shop and more. I can hear older children now saying that once they get past a certain age the fun, relatable aspect of maths is gone.

This is where I feel that maths has lost its flare. Children cannot relate maths to the real world. They can't understand how algebra will be useful to them, how fractions will help them later in life. It is here we lose them.

Going through different maths curricula the past few years, I can't help but feel for children. They are boring, repetitive and often don't explain the process enough for understanding to a degree that can be used in their lives. Maths is a core subject and therefore tested regularly from the start of school, for this reason maths techniques are often taught in a way to answer questions on tests, not taught for understanding.

I am trying to make maths fun for my children. I am doing this by relating it to real life and about things that the children are interested in. Teaching fractions just calls out for cooking, sweets and pizza. With 5 children, sharing out portions equally is a skill they all want (to make sure no one gets more!). The children have created a business plan for an entrepreneur fair they are working towards. So many maths skills involved. The thought of making money was a big incentive here.

Some of the ideas we have used to make maths more enjoyable over the past week are:

For my 10 year old working on the mean, median and mode I found creating data around his passions made everything click and made it more enjoyable. Gathering data of the depths certain sea creatures can go allowed him to research animals which he enjoys and compare them to each other.

For my 9 year old working on area, instead of just worksheets; I gave him a tape measure and asked him to work out the area of rooms in the house.

For my 12 year old who was not enjoying algebra, we used algebra and formulae to uncover some fascinating facts about the Burj Khalifa skyscrapper.


Real life relatable maths is the way forward to create engaged students who have skills that will assist them in their lives. Using percentages to teach about savings and money management. Fractions and ratios to help with cooking and meal planning and many more ideas that will help them in the future.