Mental Flexibility Archives

What Makes Mental Maths Challenging for Young Learners

November 3, 2025December 25, 2025By ILLAC

Many young children in Singapore love learning, but when it comes to maths, the excitement sometimes fades. You might notice your child enthusiastically reciting numbers, but when asked to figure out something in their head, they freeze or guess. This is especially common with mental maths, where kids are expected to do calculations without using fingers, writing, or other tools. For a 5 or 6-year-old, processing all that information quickly and accurately can feel like climbing a hill with a heavy backpack.

Mental maths can play a big part in setting up a strong base for later topics in primary school. From understanding timings of daily routines to splitting snacks fairly with friends, maths shows up in real life all the time. When children start to grasp basic sums without using physical help, they’re building a kind of number confidence. And that’s more likely to happen when they feel supported, not stressed.

Understanding Mental Maths

Mental maths doesn’t mean solving big equations in your head. For young learners, it mostly covers simple addition, subtraction, and recognising number patterns. These are the small tasks they do every day – figuring out how many sweets they’ll have if they eat one, or how many more Lego blocks they need to complete a stack.

It’s more than just knowing numbers. To do mental maths, children need to combine several early skills:

– Number Sense: This is a child’s general feel for numbers – like knowing that 8 is more than 5, or that two threes make six. If this sense is undeveloped, maths can feel very abstract.
– Memory: Mental maths relies on short-term memory. Kids have to remember the numbers they’re working with while performing steps in their head. This can be hard when there are distractions or if they feel nervous.
– Focus and Attention: Doing even a simple sum mentally requires the child to zone in on the task. Any outside noise or wandering thoughts might throw them off.
– Language Skills: Some children understand maths better when it’s shown visually, but mental maths often comes through verbal questions. If their understanding of maths words isn’t clear, they may lose track of what’s being asked.

The brain needs to juggle all these bits at once. For adults, it’s second nature. For a child starting out, it’s like spinning multiple plates — tricky but possible with the right support and pace.

When these early pieces don’t fall into place smoothly, children often show signs of struggling. They may get easily frustrated, guess answers, or avoid maths altogether. Spotting the challenge early makes it easier to support their learning without it turning into a bigger problem later on.

Common Challenges in Mental Maths for Young Learners

Mental maths can feel like a puzzle that’s tricky to complete without the pieces fitting just right. For young children, especially around kindergarten age, the brain is still growing the tools it needs to juggle this kind of thinking. Here’s where some common stumbling blocks show up.

The first is cognitive load. That’s just a simple way of saying the brain has too much to think about at once. A child might need to remember two numbers, keep the rule for what to do with them (add, subtract, etc.), and then hold onto that answer without writing it down. It can feel overwhelming, especially if they’re still learning how to pay attention for longer stretches of time.

Another challenge is familiarity with numbers. Children who haven’t yet had enough time with counting, grouping, or recognising amounts might not have built that internal number library yet. Without regular exposure, mental calculations are harder because the brain has to work from scratch each time. Even something that looks simple to adults, like “What’s 4 plus 3?”, can take a child several seconds or lead to a wrong guess.

Finally, there’s the emotional piece — anxiety and confidence. When a child feels unsure, their brain tends to freeze. If they’ve had early experiences of being corrected sharply or being put on the spot, they may start associating maths with pressure. This can lead to habits like avoiding questions, rushing, or insisting that they “can’t do maths.”

One parent shared that their 6-year-old seemed to know her numbers well but would go quiet during a class quiz. It turned out she was always second-guessing herself — not because she didn’t understand, but because she was afraid of saying the wrong answer in front of others. That anxiety can block even well-practised skills from showing up when it counts.

Simple Ways to Strengthen Mental Maths at Home

The good news is that mental maths, like any skill, improves with practice. And it doesn’t have to look like timed worksheets or drills. Often, informal moments work best.

Here are a few fun strategies that parents can try:

1. Play Number Games

Games like “Number Snap” or “What’s One More?” can help build confidence with small sums. For example, show two cards with numbers and ask your child to tell you their total or what you’d get if you took one away.

2. Use Shopping Talk

Whenever you’re out buying snacks or groceries, involve your child in thinking out loud. “We’ve got six bananas. If I eat two, how many are left?”

3. Rhythmic Counting

Clap and count together, go up in 2s or 5s when walking to the car, or use musical rhythms to repeat sums. Repetition in a fun format can bake number patterns into memory.

4. Story Maths

Use short stories with familiar items — “Tom has three toy cars. His friend gives him two more. How many now?” Stories place maths in a safe, playful setting.

5. Praise the Process, Not Just the Answer

Even if your child gets it wrong, recognise their effort. Say things like, “You were so close,” or “I like how you tried a way to work it out.” It takes the fear out of mistake-making.

When kids get into the habit of solving small maths problems without fear, their speed and memory naturally improve. Repetition helps, yes, but building the habit in a low-pressure space matters more than squeezing fast results.

The Role of ILLAC Junior Programme

Some children may need more than home-based routines. That doesn’t mean they’re behind. It just means their learning style benefits from extra support that matches how their brain works.

At ILLAC, our Junior Programme brings maths and phonics together in one approach for early learning. These two areas, when taught in a connected way, help children understand and remember new things faster. For example, a child who can hear patterns in phonics lessons may also notice number patterns more easily.

We also focus on building executive function skills. This means attention, memory, emotional control, and flexible thinking. These are skills that support learning across all subjects, but they become especially useful in mental maths. When a child can stay focused, hold information in their head, and calmly solve a sum, they’re already building long-term success habits.

By learning in carefully designed lessons that target both knowledge and thinking skills, children grow in confidence. They don’t just become better at counting. They start to enjoy it.

Building Confidence Starts Early

Early struggles with mental maths are very common, and they don’t mean that a child is bad at maths. They simply point out that some skills need more time or a different kind of support to grow. The important part is catching the signs early, before frustration sets in and chips away at their enjoyment of learning.

When we give children a positive space to learn, where mistakes are seen as part of the process, they start trying more freely. That mindset often brings about more progress than drilling through worksheets ever could.

At ILLAC, we know that maths confidence doesn’t start with tough sums. It starts with the belief that thinking things through is worth a try, and that support will always be there, step by step. That’s the kind of learning that makes a difference long term.

For parents hoping to support early learning through play and structure, ILLAC offers programmes that combine strong literacy tools with foundational number concepts. If you’re exploring ways to ease your child into a positive learning routine, find out how our approach to maths for kindergarten can spark curiosity and build confidence in young learners from the very start.

Lessons from the longest study on human development

July 13, 2021By illac_admin

Parenting has never been easy and we all wish there is a manual that guides us on this tedious and ever-so-challenging journey. As a matter of fact, plenty of such guides are out there but they tend to espouse different principles and guidelines and they can be very overwhelming. No fret. Here’s the ultimate parenting summary from the findings of studying 70,000 children across five generations. Ready? Get your notebook out!

1. Be responsive and interested parents.

Studies have shown that small things that parents do, like talking and listening to a child, responding to them warmly, teaching them their letters and numbers, taking them on trips and visits, are associated with good outcomes for children. In one study, children whose parents were reading to them daily when they were five and then showing an interest in their education at the age of 10, were significantly less likely to be in poverty at the age of 30 than those whose parents weren’t doing those things.

2. Send your kids to bed at regular times.

Studies have shown that those children who were going to bed at different times were more likely to have behavioural problems. In fact, sleep has been found by researchers to affect executive functioning and children with a lack of sleep or irregular sleeping habits tend to suffer from lower inhibitory and impulse control. One more bad news, one study showed that catch-up sleep on a weekend has no particular benefits to executive functions; it might even have an adverse effect on self-regulation in children. Therefore, send your kids to bed at regular timings and do not rely on catch-up sleep on the weekends!

3. Leave it to your child to choose what to read.

Scientists found that children who were reading for pleasure, be it a magazine, a picture book, or a story book, were more likely to perform better in school in all subjects and not just English. So do not stop your child from reading Geronimo Stilton or Whimpy Kid thinking they are useless or too simple! Whatever they read doesn’t matter, what’s more important is that they read.

In summary, the ultimate guide to parenting: Give them your attention for at least 30min a day, send them to bed at regular timings, allow them to go everywhere with a book (instead of an electronic device!), whatever the title. Congratulations, you are on your way to becoming a GREATER PARENT.

How to maximise your child’s online learning

July 7, 2021By illac_admin

Advancements in technology coupled with the pandemic has led to an exponential shift towards online learning. We are increasingly seeing children having Zoom lessons with their teachers and even co-curricular activities being carried out on screen. With more time spent looking at their devices, it is inevitable that children may end up being distracted rather than being focused on their studies.

For you to maximise your child’s online learning, here are tips you can utilise!

1.Set online rules with your child.

Have a talk with your child before online lessons to come up with some rules they can adhere to during their screen time. Have them write it down on paper and even decorate it to leave a positive impression. Afterwards, paste it up somewhere visible. Some rules can include – “Give your teacher your fullest attention”, “Answer questions”, “Listen to teacher’s instructions” etc. Reward your child with praises and even little stickers when they follow the rules they have created! These rules help sharpen their self-regulation and inhibitory control as well!

2. During lessons, be close by.

Being in the vicinity of your child during their online lessons can help you monitor their progress. You do not necessarily have to be constantly supervising them, frequent check-ins on how they are doing should suffice. During the check-ins, observe if they are paying attention and aptly engage them on what they have learnt by asking them questions related to their lesson. Your looming presence will also encourage your child to stay focused.

3. Ask your child questions after the lesson.

Building on the second point, you can also have your child tell you about what they had learnt during their lesson. Add onto it as well with your own knowledge whenever possible to encourage mental flexibility! Displaying a positive interest in your child’s learning will motivate them to wow you every session, guaranteeing heightened attention during their learning.

4. Check if they have additional work on-line or off-line.

After a lesson, your child’s teacher/instructor may give them work to do. Check if they have any and if they do, encourage your child to finish up their work diligently within a given duration (memory of fresh knowledge tend to slip out of mind without practice after the 3rd day). This trains your child to stick to a fixed routine and develop the beneficial habit of completing their work first before partaking in other recreational activities. This can help your child better retain the information during their lesson as they can apply it immediately to their work while the memory is still fresh (within 3 days!).

It can be tough having to juggle between your child’s learning and other pressing commitments. Knowing that you have done the absolute best for both you and your child is the way to go! Moderation is key, pace yourself and your child to avoid burning out while learning or working from home and stop to refresh and energise when needed.

Mental Flexibility