Just like reading, having competency with numbers will be a great boon to kids as they grow and are exposed to new things to learn and experience! A solid understanding of arithmetic and mathematics will help your child in almost every aspect of their life, but slow down! Before we get to the multiplication tables and fractions and trig, we need to start with the absolute fundamentals: counting, and an interest in numbers and how they relate to each other. This is the foundation that every other math skill is built on, and kids can start with this at a very young age. We’re no experts at this (or anything else *awkward laugh*), but we do have a three year-old who is excited about learning and numbers and an 18-month old that’s well on his way!
Here are some simple ideas to get your child’s brain working and growing without them even noticing that they’re learning!
9 Ideas for Introducing Math Concepts
1. Count everything. Seriously everything – legs on the dog, berries on their plate, or items in your shopping cart. (I love this as an easy way to distract a grouchy kid, too!)
2. Play. Whether its Mega Bloks, cars, stuffed animals, an abacus, or MathLink cubes, introduce numbers to your child’s play. You can ask, “How high can we build this tower? 10 blocks? 20 blocks?” or “What happens when we put these 3 yellow blocks and 2 blue blocks together? How many do we have now?” “This truck has 5 cars on it. What if one car falls off? Now how many are there?”
- Read books that involve numbers. There are so many out there, you probably already have at least one! Our kiddos have enjoyed “Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3”, “Ten Playful Penguins” and “Ten Pigs”.
- Have your child help in the kitchen. My three year-old loves to help me dump measuring cups or eggs into mixing bowls and count how many we’ve done and how many we have left for a recipe. As he’s gotten older, we have started introducing very basic fraction ideas with measuring spoons and food portions as well.
5. Talk about age. Beyond counting objects, talking about age can help a child compare numbers. They may get excited to talk about the following: “Dad is 28, and I am 3. 28 is bigger than 3, so Dad is older than me!” or “3 is bigger than 1 so I am older than my baby brother!”
6. Point out numbers in the world around you. Crosswalk countdowns, road signs, price tags, weight on a scale, etc. This helps bring numbers to life and helps your child grasp that numbers and counting exist in the world, not just in your conversations at home.
7. Board games. When developmentally appropriate, board and card games can be a great way to stretch your child’s quantitative reasoning skills. A great one to start is Candy Land! We have also played simplified versions of Yahtzee, Blockus, Splendor, War, and other games with our three year-old. He loves the one-on-one time and feeling “big” when he gets to learn games that were previously off-limits.
8. Make it into art. Have your child do a coloring book page, use dot markers, or make a collage to get familiar with each numeral.
9. Memorize a parent’s phone number. Beyond the very practical safety applications of this, your child will learn that numbers can be assigned to things besides quantities of objects and they will likely think it’s so neat when you let them dial a number on a phone and see that it actually calls someone!
There are so many ways to encourage learning about numbers and basic math that don’t require a single flashcard! Letting your child learn from the world around them will ignite interest and comprehension with less effort and more fun. So keep it simple! What ways of teaching your child about numbers have been successful and fun for you and your family? Share in the comments below!
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