Using every day activities as examples can improve a child's math skills

For 3-year-old Ben, if you can snap it together or stack it then it's fun and his mother knows it's skill building.

"Definitely important in terms of organization - just thinking ahead and planning things," his mother said.

It's also laying the foundation for math skills. Claudia Galindo studied 47 immigrant Latino mothers whose children were enrolled in preschool through first grade. The education sociologist found the vast majority placed great value in math education and were already using cultural strengths to help their children with math.

"Sometimes some of them found that it was difficult and that they didn't like it, but in spite of these dispositions, they still saw math as something extremely important," she said.

Through workshops, Galindo helped the mothers capitalize on their strengths to teach math using daily activities at home. For example, when cooking you can ask your child to count out loud and bring five ingredients from the refrigerator or pantry.

"When you're setting the table, or you have a guest, how many people are coming for dinner today? Ok, what is it that you need?" she said.

Researchers also found that mothers in the study encouraged kids to watch educational media.

"We really want to explore more about watching TV as a way to teach our kids math - Dora, Sesame Street," Galindo said.

Researchers said parents should get their kids involved when they themselves are doing math-based activities, such as matching the shapes and lids of plastic containers, counting money or even counting out loud when going up the stairs.