Recommended Age: 3.5y+
Level of Parent Involvement: High
Materials
- None
Steps
- Invite your child to play a counting game. Ask your child, “How many hands do you have?” If necessary, help your child to count his hands. Repeat with your child’s other body parts. For example, ears, legs, tummies, feet, fingers – on one hand and on two hands, noses, big toes, etc.
- Ask your child, “How many knees do I have?” Repeat with other parts of your body.
- Repeat the process with the other members of your family.
- And with your pets – if you do not have any pets, ask your child to choose one of his toy animals and ask him to count its body parts.
- If your child is enjoying the game, play one of the variations with him.
Variations
- Choose a specific place in your house and ask your child to count the things that are in it, helping him if necessary.
For example:
- in the kitchen, how many fridges/drawers/sinks/cupboard doors, etc.
- in the cutlery drawer, how many forks/knives/teaspoons, etc.
- in his bedroom, how many books/soft toys/cars/shoes/beds, etc.
- When you and your child are out and about walking or driving in your neighbourhood, ask your child, “How many red cars can you see?”, or cars in your street, dogs out on a walk, lamp posts, etc.
Notes
- The ability to count individual objects is a vitally important skill for your child to acquire as it forms the basis of all other Maths activities.
