Playtime and Math

Today we are sharing how to encourage, support, and develop early math skills in your baby and toddler. We use math throughout the day and, in
turn, our children are exposed to the same math skills. This exposure,
repetition, practice, and eventual understanding is the foundation for early
math skills that more complex future math concepts will build upon.
Sounds daunting? It’s not because you are already laying a strong
foundation for your child’s love of math and we will prove it! Here are a few simple early math focused tips and ideas to keep in mind as you go about your day with your baby and/or toddler.

1. Math is Child’s Play- When you and your child are playing in many
   ways they are also learning about math. This includes building with
   blocks, fill and dump games, lining up their toy cars, placing animals in
   the barn, puzzles, jumping, rolling, reaching, crawling, and much more!
   Your child is experimenting and learning math concepts in multiple ways
   as they play. What you can do to support their learning and
   understanding is to count and talk about numbers, size, shape, color,
   positional words, quantity, same/different, and patterns. For example,
   count as they place objects in a basket, identify the shapes as they push
   them through the shape sorter, show them how to make a simple pattern
   with their toy cars (red, blue, red blue) or sort toys by size (big stuffed
   animals on the blanket, little ones in the basket). Even if they don’t
   follow your lead or, better yet, come over and push the pattern of objects
   and perfectly stacked blocks out of the way, you are still exposing them
   to the concepts and the language that they will need to process those
   skills. As you continue to play alongside your child, while talking and
   discussing math concepts (Should the big block go on top or on the
   bottom? I will make a perimeter around the barn with the animals. Let’s
   give everyone at the tea party a plate. Will you help me?) they will be
   learning in the best way they know; through play.

2. Math is Part of Everyday – Do you rejoice or shudder at the thought of
   math? Either way, you should feel good knowing that you are a math
   whiz because you use math all day everyday, even if you don’t (or don’t
   want to) realize it. Math is everywhere and therefore it is easy to
   encourage your little one to notice it too. Some ideas are to notice math while out for a walk (count the trees you pass or the lawn decorations, collect leaves to count or compare and sort sizes, count the steps you take, talk about distance (how far is the playground), describe the houses you see, or find the house numbers. Cooking with your child is also a great activity. As you cook and bake with your child they are measuring, counting, adding, comparing, estimating, learning time and more! Calendars are also a wonderful way to weave math into everyday conversations and have fun with your child. Use a paper chain to count down the days to a fun event (trip to grandma’s or Disney is doesn’t matter) and your child will be learning number sense. An advent/holiday calendar is another way to incorporate math into a daily activity. Use it to identify the date and count up and count down. You also use math when your child chooses which color shirt to wear, helps to match the clean socks out of the laundry, counts how many goldfish crackers are in their bowl, and while watching the timer before it’s time to get out of the tub. All of these simple, everyday things are powerful tools to build your child’s math foundation.

3. M&M = Music and Movement – Just as we encourage music and
   movement to enhance language skills we also encourage music,
   dancing, and movement activities to practice and learn important math
   skills. Music and dancing teaches us about rhythm, patterns, and
   repetition. Movement through space, whether through a living room
   obstacle course or on the local playground, helps our little ones to
   understand spatial concepts, distance, size, and balance and make
   comparisons based on those concepts of size, weight, height, and
   position. The best part is it’s fun for you and your child which makes
   learning easy!
   
   We hope these simple tips help you and your family and please don’t forget that development is different for every child. Your child will learn at their own perfect pace. What is most important at this stage is exposure to the world around them in many different and wonderful ways!
   
   Now, go play!
   Michele and Chelsie