Since my girls were young (3+), I've given them a "Math Problem of the Day". I always tried to come up with something that was fun and age appropriate. It never required pencil and paper, but did require at least a few seconds of though. They really seemed to enjoy the challenge and would ask for their "Problem" as soon as I got home in the evening. I was really more concerned about the girls learning other things than math, such as: (1) math can be fun, (2) math problems can be approached as puzzles, (3) a little effort can be rewarded, etc.
They are in high school now. The oldest one is taking AP calc and AP physics as a senior and the younger one will be taking those classes next year. They both love math and physics (we are fortunate to have very good teachers in our public school) and are leaning toward college majors in math, physics or engineering. The oldest one got a perfect score on the math portion of the SAT. (The younger one has not taken the test yet.) They are both straight A students. They have competed and done well in a couple of different robotics competitions. They are both in Math Club. They compete in Math Bowl. Etc (Sorry, this appears to be me bragging about them and it probably is.)
I am sure that there are a number of reasons that my girls appear to be headed toward careers in math and science (1) my wife and I are both engineers, (2) I also read a lot to them when they were younger (Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter) and there is still more reading activity than TV watching in the house, (3) we have always playing board games/cards as a family, and so on. BUT, the youngest one wrote in an essay (in an application for engineering summer camp) that she believed that the "Math Problem of the Day" helped to inspire her love of math.
It may all be a big roll of the dice, but I would encourage you to try something like the "Math Problem of the Day" and see were it leads. I don't see how it can hurt. Good luck.
As a side note: The Problem helped me notice differences in reasoning and personality at an early age. The oldest is very analytical and probably has a deeper understanding of math than I do (when she explained her solutions I was often left shaking my head in amazement). The youngest one is very intuitive (her creative solutions had me shaking my head in amazement also). These differences were apparent at an early age and are still present (and will probably always be present).
Difference in learning styles
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Since my girls were young (3+), I've given them a "Math Problem of the Day". I always tried to come up with something that was fun and age appropriate. It never required pencil and paper, but did require at least a few seconds of though. They really seemed to enjoy the challenge and would ask for their "Problem" as soon as I got home in the evening. I was really more concerned about the girls learning other things than math, such as: (1) math can be fun, (2) math problems can be approached as puzzles, (3) a little effort can be rewarded, etc. They are in high school now. The oldest one is taking AP calc and AP physics as a senior and the younger one will be taking those classes next year. They both love math and physics (we are fortunate to have very good teachers in our public school) and are leaning toward college majors in math, physics or engineering. The oldest one got a perfect score on the math portion of the SAT. (The younger one has not taken the test yet.) They are both straight A students. They have competed and done well in a couple of different robotics competitions. They are both in Math Club. They compete in Math Bowl. Etc (Sorry, this appears to be me bragging about them and it probably is.) I am sure that there are a number of reasons that my girls appear to be headed toward careers in math and science (1) my wife and I are both engineers, (2) I also read a lot to them when they were younger (Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter) and there is still more reading activity than TV watching in the house, (3) we have always playing board games/cards as a family, and so on. BUT, the youngest one wrote in an essay (in an application for engineering summer camp) that she believed that the "Math Problem of the Day" helped to inspire her love of math. It may all be a big roll of the dice, but I would encourage you to try something like the "Math Problem of the Day" and see were it leads. I don't see how it can hurt. Good luck. As a side note: The Problem helped me notice differences in reasoning and personality at an early age. The oldest is very analytical and probably has a deeper understanding of math than I do (when she explained her solutions I was often left shaking my head in amazement). The youngest one is very intuitive (her creative solutions had me shaking my head in amazement also). These differences were apparent at an early age and are still present (and will probably always be present). Difference in learning styles