Building with Blocks

Blocks are a great way to learn big, small, more, less, and even some numbers.  In our family we call the blocks 2 by 2 or 4 by 2 based on the numbers of circles on top.  As children play more and more they come to know numbers.

Sorting Money

A fun activity with older toddlers, pre-schoolers, or kindergarteners is to sort money.  This should definately be done with supervision and wash hands afterwards.  This helps children recognize coins and start to notice the differences in the coins.

Puzzles

Puzzles are so fun!  My boys started to enjoy them by age 3.  They were simple puzzles, but that's perfectly fine.  Puzzles are great for developing a mathematical mind.  While doing a puzzles, pieces are tried in different ways and are put together and taken apart. 

That practice is important later in math.  As our children start to do operations with numbers (adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing...just to name a few) the ability to take numbers apart and put them together makes is easier do do the math.  For instance 47 + 13 = ?  I can take apart 47 to be 40 and 7 which are added to 10 and 3.  In combining the 40 and 10 I get 50.  Then I combine the 7 and 3 and get 10 more for a sum of 60.  This is how we add in our heads as adults.  But so often in school we learn to add 7 plus 3 and carry the 1. 

Puzzles develop our minds to think practically, efficiently, and flexibly.  And of course, puzzles are fun!

Counting All the time

I have posted ideas to count before, but we have counted quite a bit in our household today.  First we counted when we brushed our teeth (well I counted while the boys brushed).  For teeth we count to 60.  Then for Valentine's Day, both boys got temporary tatoos in all of their loot.  So to put one on with water, we count together to 30.  My older son helped with the shake and bake and he counted to 10 for each chicken piece.  Then I caught him playing with the balloon trying to keep it up in the air while he counted to 100 by tens.  Lots of counting needs to happen to acquire number sense and it can happen every day in little ways.

Puzzles

How many 3 year olds LOVE puzzles?  I know both mine did and still do.  I know it's lots of pieces, but encourage puzzles.  Puzzles promote critical thinking by learning the basics of putting things together and taking them apart.

This is so important for number sense.  If I look at the number 10, this number can be taken apart so many ways.  3, 7 or 1, 5,4.  There are many ways.  So now I can add 7 and 4.  4 can be broken down to 3 and 1.  7 plus 3 is 10, plus one more is 11.  Did you follow that? 

Adding is like joining puzzle pieces in different ways to get the whole picture.

One idea for clean up is to have baggies with each puzzle or store them in bins.  I would keep them altogether.  Get a basket to put extra pieces in that you may find while cleaning.... have a "puzzle day" where you are with the kids and put ALL the puzzles together. It helps keep the area clean.

Ordinal Numbers with youngsters

First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, etc.....that is what mathematicians mean by ordinal numbers.

We describe so many things with the ordinal numbers.  My 3 and 5 year old always compete to be first.  This morning my 3 year old told me as I was taking him out of the car, "No mommy,  Joshua first, me second, mommy third."  Ordinal numbers are naturally used in competitions.

They can also be used to refer to steps or routine.  Young children thrive on routine.  For instance at bedtime the routine could be set up so first children take a bath, second they brush their teeth, third they read a story, fourth they say a prayer, fifth they get a drink of water, sixth they get tucked in and get a goodnight kiss.  If the routine can be described using the ordinal numbers, it is a natural way to fit number sense into daily routines.

Count forwards and backwards

An easy way to get young children to do something is to give a number of seconds.  Count forward and backwards the number of seconds out loud.  Typically I don't go over 20...but you could.  Before you know it, your children will count with you.