The Numbers Game

How to get preschoolers ready to learn mathematic

- Erica Zippert & Bethany Rittle-Johnson

If you’re a parent of a preschooler, you may be wondering how you can help set your child up for success once they enter Grade R.

By now, you’ve probably heard of the importance of reading and talking to your child to support their language and literacy skills. You might have even made reading, talking and learning the ABCs part of your daily routine.

But did you know that you can also support your child’s maths learning during everyday interactions at home?

1=ONE=AN APPLE

Young children need to develop several different number skills. For instance, they need to master counting aloud from one to 10 and beyond, and learn to identify written numbers like 2 and 4.

In addition, little kids should realise that each number word and symbol represents a specific quantity of objects. That is, the spoken word “four” and the written number 4 are the same as four cookies or four apples. They need to know that they can count to determine how many of something is in a set.

Young children are also beginning to understand the concepts of addition and subtraction, even if they can’t do the maths by themselves. And they need to start seeing which numbers are bigger or smaller than others.