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Preschool children love to hold your hand and count steps with you. This is a good way to help them learn that there is a one to one correspondence between one number and doing one thing or moving on to the next number. They can count giant steps, hops, flowers, or anthills on your summer walks.
These young children can move cereal, crackers, berries, little cars, Lego pieces, or a game piece across a board of Chutes and Ladders and other similar games. Help them if they double count or skip a number while they learn one-to-one correspondence. Memorizing counting one to hundred may be impressive, but counting only helps children with math if they understand what they are saying.
Learning to add
Once they can count and understand one to one correspondence up to 10, play with addition. Start by adding one to a small number. Use their favorite cereal. If they have one piece and add one more count how many they have now. Point out the answer is the next number. After some practice, add two using cereal, Lego’s, cars or something else concrete that they can see and touch. Play this as a game and insert this teaching time into playtime. Some preschool children can keep adding up to twenty or higher. Other children need to wait awhile. Every child is different.
Learning should be fun and playful. Spread out the adding over many days and practice until the concept is mastered. Take turns being the teacher. It’s helpful for your children to play the teacher. Using the math vocabulary and explaining to someone else will help them understand, practice, and remember. Other family members will love to see what young children are learning and give them compliments.
Learning to subtract
Preschoolers also like to play with subtraction. Place three Cheerios on the table. How may are there if we take away one? How many are there if we take away one more? How many are left if we take away the last one? Use the word none and zero, an important concept.
Practice taking away one from other numbers up to ten. Interchange the word “subtraction” with the words ” take away” since in math they will need to know both expression for a while. Again use concrete items they can see and touch while they talk through the process and explain to you what they are doing. Eating cereal pieces or berries is a good activity. They can take away little objects from a pile. Start with subtracting one. Then try two and more. They can count how many they have left.
Practice while doing ordinary random things they love to do.
For more see grandparentsteach.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live and pod casts.
Editor’s note: Grandparents Teach, Too is a non-profit organization of elementary and preschool teachers from Marquette, Michigan. Writers include: Jan Sabin, Mary Davis, Jean Hetrick, Cheryl Anderegg, Esther Macalady, Colleen Walker, Fran Darling, and Iris Katers.Their mission since 2009 is to help parents, grandparents, and other caregivers of young children provide fun activities to help prepare young children for school and a life long love of learning. They are supported by Great Start, Parent Awareness of Michigan, Upper Peninsula Association for the Education of Young Children, Northern Michigan School of Education, U.P. Children’s Museum and NMU Center for Economic Education.