The Mom Kind You have probably been wondering about the best strategies that you can use to guide your children while they learn new numbers early. This article is for parents who want to teach their children in kindergarten and pre-school to learn numbers. Like language, we need to learn numbers to count objects, among other functions. Children should learn numbers to help them quantify objects. Arguably, teaching numbers is essential for kids as it helps them with math as they grow up.
When do kids learn numbers?
Education experts and scholars advise that children be introduced to numbers at 12 months. At this age, they have started to understand their environment and can identify specific items at home.
By the time your child turns two years, they may learn how to count a small set of items. It is essential to learn how to teach numbers to preschoolers. Children may learn how to count up to 10 by memorization. Moreover, children can only count the numbers by rote; thus, they should be taught how to read numbers. Also, children make mistakes in the order of counting the numbers by skipping or omitting some- “one, three, four.”
This should, however, not be a course for worry as it is normal and will improve over time. What matters at this age is identifying the names of the numbers. By the time the child turns between 3 and 4 years, the kid will be able to point at objects and label them with numbers. At this age, a child understands that adding more objects increases the number of objects, and subtracting reduces the quantity.
Ways of teaching numbers
Some of the ways that you can teach your child numbers include the following;
Make use of rhymes and songs.
Learning numbers for kindergarten can be achieved by putting selected numbers in rhymes and songs. This will help children sing along to the songs and enable them to grasp the particulars of that lesson. One of the basic principles that guide how to teach numbers to preschoolers and ensure that they remember the numbers is by making it fun and exciting. The rhyme must not be complex, and it has to be short to enable the child to memorize it with ease. Besides, the songs or rhymes have to sound fun and relatable to the child to ensure that your child takes interest and sings along when he goes about other activities or while playing.
Examples of rhymes and songs that you can teach your child numbers include “1 little monkey jumping on the bed” and “the ants are marching one by one, hurrah,” among others. By singing along with these rhymes and songs, the kid has fun and gets to learn how the numbers progress.
One way of ensuring that the child understands the numbers as you sing is by showing the numbers on your finger. Showing the number of fingers for specific numbers helps the child to understand that a number is related to a certain number of fingers. For an effective outcome, you should show the fingers to the children as you both sing along and ask them to follow your lead by counting with their fingers as well.
To make it more interesting, you can use props to represent the number of items referred to in the songs or rhymes as you sing. Parents can also consider using math help for kids, ensuring professional assistance from math tutors.
Incorporate numbers into daily tasks
Similar to adults, children learn best through the practical application of information. Also, you can teach your child numbers by using figures to specify the number of objects. For example, you can ask the child to get you three small boxes from the store or take only two cookies from the jar. You can also specify the number of objects in the environment when talking to the child to enhance his understanding of numbers. For example, in a restaurant, you can mention that “there are three free seats and we are four people.”
Another way of applying numbers to daily tasks is by asking your children to count the number of apples bought from the grocery or asking them to eat six strawberries. When communicating with the children, the continuous and frequent use of numbers helps them relate the numbers with quantities.
Additionally, to ensure that the children enjoy learning the numbers and identifying the quantity they stand for, they must refer to things they are familiar with or enjoy doing. For example, you can ask your child to count the number of toys on the shelf in your hearing. You can do this to help your children know how many they have and keep track of them to avoid losing one.
When they know how many items they have, the children can easily see the missing number if any of them gets lost. Another way of teaching children numbers is by counting the number of puppies around the garden as you point at them to help them know how to count.
Daily Practice
You can also teach your children numbers by using items they interact with every day, such as cups, plates, or fruits. One way of improving their mastery of the numbers is by writing them and asking them to draw the number of items equivalent to the written number. For example, you can write number 1 on a piece of paper or board and ask the child to draw a cup, then 2 and 3 as you progress upwards. You can also reverse this exercise by drawing a certain number of items and asking the child to count and mention the quantity.
You can repeat this exercise a couple of times by using different items to improve the child’s ability to master the concept of numbers in different contexts. This is one of the essential methods that guide how to teach numbers to kids and how to teach number recognition. For example, you can start by drawing cars, followed by oranges, then cups, among others.
Conclusion
Considering your children are ready to learn numbers from as early as twelve months, you should take the initiative to guide them through this journey. You do not have to be a professional to teach your children how to learn numbers. Instead, you can use everyday activities and items within your environment to help them grow the skill. Remember to make it fun and include activities they can relate to, such as songs, to achieve the best results.
The Mom Kind
Alicia Trautwein is an Autism advocate, writer, motivational speaker, and dedicated mom of four. Alicia’s desire to advocate for Autism comes from her own autism diagnosis and that of her three children, niece, and brother. Her life’s mission is to educate on autism acceptance and change the world for future generations of autistic individuals.
