Motivating kids to learn math

Every once in a while I look at what search terms people are using that ends up at this site. The title of this post is one of the recent ones, motivating kids to learn math. I didn't show up on the first page for that term so I'm not sure which post got that hit.

But motivating kids to learn math is a topic I do have a little to say about.

For parents, the way to help motivate your kids to learn math is to play games with them and encourage them to read stories like "The Gold Bug".

My parents tought me and my younger sister to play Pinocle as soon as she was old enough to count meld (she was about 5 and I was 8).

For a kid the realization that math can help them solve interesting puzzles and help learn to improve their performance in playing games is a huge motivation. It certianly worked for me.