Growing up math for us was more abstract and never concrete left alone fun. We daily deal with pairs of shoes, eyes and ears not abstract “twos.” Then why learn math is such a notional way.
Little did W3 knew that baby begins learning math the moment she starts exploring the world. By the time a child is toddler they can begin reciting numbers, but skip some of them. They also start understanding the concept of “more”; very often I hear Siya saying “mooore,” or “daadum, (to give me loosely in sanskrit).” Children are using early math skills throughout their daily routines and activities. These skills come really handy in when they go to school and also in building the analytical side of their brains.
So I thought, why not make it fun if Math is such an important and everyday skill. As part of my love for Singapore Math (See my article on it – Singapore Math with Pattern Recognition to the Sunday-Funday rescue!!) and Siya’s love for her stacking toys/flash cards this weeks Sunday-Funday activity was counting numbers using concepts of singapore math in a play-based learning environment.
We did two activities that were focused on visual identification of number and counting using her favorite stackable toy.
Activity 1
We bought some simple number flashcards with picture, Amazon Number Flashcards, however you can make some at home too with your kids. We picked out flashcards from one through ten. We did both picture recognition including number counting. Siya knew some of these pictures so introducing numbers and counting out loud helped.
Activity 2
A famous quote by Zig Ziglar, “Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment,” really fits well with toddler learning too including using various multisensory mediums. I incorporated stacking ring by Melissa & Doug (you can use other stacking toys too) in making Siya learn numbers.
Initially, I use to say all the numbers and then after few repeats I started asking Siya; 1 and then she would say 2 and then every other alternate number. Siya still is learning and says alternate numbers however, 6, 8, 9 and 10 are her favorite ones. As those are the ones she says in a sequence (See attached video).
We had a great weekend, learning numbers using different mediums. Leave your thoughts or comment below and let us know how you spent your weekend and how do you teach your kids Math.
Additional number activities you can do with your older kids
Explore home number
Teach them the address and key phone numbers starting with home and 911. Share with kids that every house has unique numbers and walk them through your neighborhood how numbers are in series.
Sort by sizes
Take different day-to-day objects such as cereals, different sizes of balls, marbles, etc. Then ask your child to sort it from large to small, ask him to see which ones can fit in a cup or not.
Make them chef
Children as young as 15 months can help out with cooking, have them help you measure, stir, mix while counting different ingredients.
Learn with technology
Youtube has over 50+ number songs and countless in different languages. Sing songs that have a ring or rhyme to it and have the kids point out to different numbers and make them count too.
Little Did W3 Knew 