10 tips to build a little mathematician

1. Count:  Are you dressing your baby?  “One arm, two arms!”  Are you walking up the stairs with your toddler?  “Let’s count the steps! One… two… three….”  Count how many grapes she has, how many fingers are on her hand, or how many keys are on the ring.  One day she/he will learn to assign numbers to objects as she counts, too.

2. Build with blocks:  Your baby might enjoy watching you make a tower.  Soon he’ll be knocking it over, and eventually he’ll start to put one block on top of the other all by himself.

3. Arrange things in a logical way: Make worms out of play dough and put them in order from largest to smallest as your child watches. Help her put stacking blocks on top of one another.

4. Build an understanding of spatial relationships: Help your child be aware of herself and her environment by letting her crawl through play tunnels, sit in a child-sized tent, climb up the toddler slide, or play in a big box.

5. Sort toys:  Separate the animals from the toy cars.  Put the stuffed animals in this bin, and the lacing toys in this one.  Or sort by colour.  Before your child can actually name the colours, he may be able to sort same coloured objects into groups.

6. Compare things:  Who has the bigger plate, you or Mummy?  Which of your strawberries is bigger?

7. Play with patterns:  Isn’t it funny how the simple game of peekaboo has babies in stitches?  It’s actually an introduction to patterns.  When you play patty cake and other action rhymes, your child can play with patterns even more.  You might also try to find patterns if your child can feel, like the design of the texture on the couch or carpet.

8. Sing: There are countless nursery rhymes and songs for babies, many of which focus on numbers.  “1, 2, buckle my shoe.”  Or “Six little ducks went out one day…” Soon your child will be singing them by himself!

9. Explore volume: Allow your child have the pleasure of measuring with a cup, spoon or even straw before taking a drink.  On a warm day, give your child some water toys to play with in the water table or wading pool.  By simply filling the containers and pouring them, your child is learning a lot about maths!

10. Read:  Above all, read and read some more, you might not just be able to tell what she might learn from that book.  One day she’ll learn to assign numbers to objects as she counts, too.