Math activities in early childhood

Children, from basically the moment they are born start observing the world and learn all there is to know about life. We might start to wonder when to introduce certain concepts to them like alphabets, math, general knowledge etc, but in fact they start learning those concepts all on their own the moment they are born. 

"The child is not an empty being who owes whatever he knows to us who have filled him up with it." - Maria Montessori

Children go through different sensitive periods between the ages of 0-6. every period focusing on a different concept. Until the age of 3.5 children learn the basis of math, or in a different word: early math patterns, such as numbers, sequences, shapes, sizes, all to create a foundation for understanding and learning math. During challenging times like the ones we are facing right now, our homes have turned into schools for our children, and we might be wondering how to help our young toddlers and preschoolers learn and make a good use of their time.

Below I will share few ideas for activities you can do with your toddler and preschooler in order to help them develop their understanding of mathematical patterns: 

1. Counting, you can help your child learn numbers by incorporating counting in your daily lives, counting their food portions like slices of oranges, number of fruits on a tray, counting steps is a great one if you have stairs in your house.

2. Sorting activities: sorting is a wonderful activity that helps fire those connections in the brain: things to sort: shapes pompoms through Colors/size Animals figurines or toys by size. click to download this fun vehicles coloring sheet, cut the vehicles after and sort them by “air vehicles, water vehicles and road vehicles”. You can make the sorting sheet by using construction paper like I did below: 

3. Puzzles: you can purchase yours or if you are like me, make few yourself. I made a simple fractions puzzle using a recycled cardboard, crayons and some straws.

4. Shapes tracing and filling: Cut the basic three shapes from a piece of cardboard and let your children trace the inside of it, or fill it with pompoms/ rice/ beans.

5. Bring your child along your daily life, especially in the kitchen, letting them cook or bake with you will expose them to numbers, quantities. The opportunities are endless to learn while you are in the kitchen, recognizing the sizes of measuring cups, counting ingredients while cooking, recognizing shapes from things around the kitchen and the list goes on!

My daughter Ayah finding the correct lid for the pot to make popcorn.

What other activities are you doing with your children? what helped your little ones learn numbers/shapes? share with us so we continue learning from each other!

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