We, as parents, think of 3 years olds as the group of children who naturally ask "Why?" about everything. Questioning does not start with 3 year olds though.
With my two year old, I can easily ask him "How many?" Last night I asked him how many pierogies he wanted for dinner and he very deliberately answered, "Two big ones mommy." Why could he answer that question? I started as early as I could counting out loud. Around age one, I would start to ask him, "How many?" The question would come naturally, especially when dealing with foods. If he ate something like 2 bread rolls, I would make a big deal about it and say, "Wow, you ate 2 bread rolls!!!" By telling him what he ate, he knows what to ask for when I say "How many?" Sometimes, when I ask "how many do you want?" my children say an outrageous answer. For example, I may say, "how many bread rolls do you want?" The child may say, "10." I know the child will not eat 10. So I would say back in a nice way, "Wow that's a lot!! Maybe I can give you 2 and if you eat that I'll give you more." That way the child knows he asked for 10, did not get 10, but will get 10 if he eats it all.
So then, as I already stated, around age 3 our children begin asking us "Why?" about everything. Anyone who has had a 3 year old know what I am talking about. It is a natural age of curiosity. A twist I like to do is every now and then, I try throwing the questions back, especially when I may not know the answer, "Well why do you think that happens?" This can sometimes lead to a discussion and both you and the child can grow and learn from the discussion.
Another big question that helps in mathematical thinking is in relation to time. I will be posting in the future a post about time. For now, if something like bedtime is familar to children, we can ask, "When will you go to bed?" We can also ask, "When should we eat?" By telling children information like their bed time, children become familar with the idea of telling time. My four year old has figured out at 8:00pm he can ask, "Can I go to bed at 9:00?" because on the weekends we allow him to go to bed at 9:00. But that question only has come from familarizing him with the idea of the o'clocks and usual times he goes to bed.
Huh. You know, that never occurred to me. My 3yo always asks for stuff and I'll say, "not until dinner time" or whatever, but I never thought to tell her the actual time. Now that you mention it, it's probably an excellent way to get her practice with reading the numbers, too! Genius!
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