zt: Supporting Early Math Skills Through Everyday Moments

link: http://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_key_childdevt_earlymath

The tips below highlight ways that you can help your child learn early math skills by building on their natural curiosity and having fun together.  (Note:  Most of these tips are designed for older children—ages 2-3.  Younger children can be exposed to stories and songs using repetition, rhymes and numbers.)  

• Shape up.  Play with shape-sorters.  Talk with your child about each shape—count the sides, describe the colors.  Make your own shapes by cutting large shapes out of colored construction paper.  Ask your child to “hop on the circle” or “jump on the red shape.”
  
  
• Count and sort.  Gather together a basket of small toys, shells, pebbles or buttons.  Count them with your child.  Sort them based on size, color, or what they do (i.e., all the cars in one pile, all the animals in another).  
  
  
• Place the call.  With your three year old, begin teaching her the address and phone number of your home.  Talk with your child about how each house has a number, and how their house or apartment is one of a series, each with its own number.
  
  
• What size is it?  Notice the sizes of objects in the world around you:  That pink pocketbook is the biggest.  The blue pocketbook is the smallest.  Ask your child to think about his own size relative to other objects (“Do you fit under the table?  Under the chair?”).
  
  
• You’re cookin’ now!  Even young children can help  fill, stir, and pour.  Through these activities, children learn, quite naturally, to count, measure, add, and estimate.  
  
  
• Walk it off.  Taking a walk gives children many opportunities to compare (which stone is bigger?), assess (how many acorns did we find?), note similarities and differences (does the duck have fur like the bunny does?) and categorize (see if you can find some red leaves).  You can also talk about size (by taking big and little steps), estimate distance (is the park close to our house or far away?), and practice counting (let's count how many steps until we get to the corner).
  
  
• Picture time.  Use an hourglass, stopwatch, or timer to time short (1-3 minute) activities.  This helps children develop a sense of time and to understand that some things take longer than others.
  
  
• Shape up.  Point out the different shapes and colors you see during the day.  On a walk, you may see a triangle-shaped sign that’s yellow.  Inside a store you may see a rectangle-shaped sign that’s red.  
  
  
• Read and sing your numbers.  Sing songs that rhyme, repeat, or have numbers in them.  Songs reinforce patterns (which is a math skill as well).  They also are fun ways to practice language and foster social skills like cooperation.
  
  
• Start today.  Use a calendar to talk about the date, the day of the week, and the weather.  Calendars reinforce counting, sequences, and patterns.  Build logical thinking skills by talking about cold weather and asking your child:  What do we wear when it’s cold?  This encourages your child to make the link between cold weather and warm clothing.    
  
  
• Pass it around.  Ask for your child’s help in distributing items like snacks or in laying napkins out on the dinner table.  Help him give one cracker to each child.  This helps children understand one-to-one correspondence.  When you are distributing items, emphasize the number concept:  “One for you, one for me, one for Daddy.”  Or, “We are putting on our shoes:  One, two.”
  
  
• Big on blocks.  Give your child the chance to play with wooden blocks, plastic interlocking blocks, empty boxes, milk cartons, etc.  Stacking and manipulating these toys help children learn about shapes and the relationships between shapes (e.g., two triangles make a square).  Nesting boxes and cups for younger children help them understand the relationship between different sized objects.
  
  
• Tunnel time.  Open a large cardboard box at each end to turn it into a tunnel.  This helps children understand where their body is in space and in relation to other objects.
  
  
• The long and the short of it.  Cut a few (3-5) pieces of ribbon, yarn or paper in different lengths.  Talk about ideas like long and short.  With your child, put in order of longest to shortest.
  
  
• Learn through touch.  Cut shapes—circle, square, triangle—out of sturdy cardboard.  Let your child touch the shape with her eyes open and then closed.  
  
  
• Pattern play.  Have fun with patterns by letting children arrange dry macaroni, chunky beads, different types of dry cereal, or pieces of paper in different patterns or designs.  Supervise your child carefully during this activity to prevent choking, and put away all items when you are done.  
  
  
• Laundry learning.  Make household jobs fun.  As you sort the laundry, ask your child to make a pile of shirts and a pile of socks.  Ask him which pile is the bigger (estimation).  Together, count how many shirts.  See if he can make pairs of socks:  Can you take two socks out and put them in their own pile?  (Don’t worry if they don’t match!  This activity is more about counting than matching.)    
  
  
• Playground math.  As your child plays, make comparisons based on height (high/low), position (over/under), or size (big/little).
  
  
• Dress for math success.  Ask your child to pick out a shirt for the day.  Ask:  What color is your shirt?  Yes, yellow.  Can you find something in your room that is also yellow?  As your child nears three and beyond, notice patterns in his clothing—like stripes, colors, shapes, or pictures:  I see a pattern on your shirt.  There are stripes that go red, blue, red, blue.  Or, Your shirt is covered with ponies—a big pony next to a little pony, all over your shirt!  
  
  
• Graphing games.  As your child nears three and beyond, make a chart where your child can put a sticker each time it rains or each time it is sunny.  At the end of a week, you can estimate together which column has more or less stickers, and count how many to be sure.