Does your child complain that math is his least favorite subject? Jo Boaler, a math-education professor at England’s University of Sussex and author of “What’s Math Got to Do With It? Helping Children Learn to Love Their Least Favorite Subject—And Why It’s Important for America” (Viking/Penguin, $24.95), and Rod Pierce, creator of mathis fun.com, offer some advice.

• Make it fun. To practice geometry, try tangrams, seven-piece puzzles whose pieces can be put together to form different shapes ($7.95 at etacuisenaire.com); or the card game Set ($12 at setgame.com). To develop number skills, check out Equate, which is like math Scrabble ($25 at conceptualmathmedia.com), or Cribbage ($24.99 at target.com).

• Boost their confidence. Never say “You’re wrong,” says Boaler. “There’s always some logic in their thinking. The key is to find the logic.”

• Make it a part of daily life. Learn fractions in the kitchen. Ask kids, “What do we do if we need one and a half cups of flour but we only have a half-cup measure?” While gardening, ask kids, “How many plants do we need in this space if they are six inches apart?” Talk about shapes of flowers and plants, too, says Pierce.