Early Math Counts

posted by Dr. Bilge Cerezci

At all ages, children classify intuitively to make sense of their world that seems largely out of their control. By 2 weeks of age, infants distinguish between objects they suck and those they do not. By 2 years, toddlers form sets with objects that are similar. In preschool, children begin to sort objects according to a given attribute and form categories. Many parents have likely walked into a room to see their four-year old putting their blocks or other toys in piles based on color or type. So why sorting is important you may ask. By sorting the objects around them, children start using their analytical thinking skills that is the lifeblood of mathematics. Studies have even been shown that by comparing objects to one another and understanding the relationship between set of objects, children engage in transitive thinking: A blue block is bigger than a red block and smaller than a yellow block. So, blue blocks need to go into a medium-sized block pile. Practicing sorting skills also provide children with models for organizing things in the real world, such as putting toys into the right toys boxes or putting the socks in a sock drawer and underwear in the underwear drawer.

Sorting Ideas

Helping children recognize math in the real world and finding everyday math activities at home is a great way for parents to reinforce young children’s sorting skills. Here are some of the sorting ideas you can implement in our home:

* Collect real-life objects such as rocks, marker caps, marbles, and buttons. Ask your children to guess which objects will together and which items will not. Ask the children to sort them according to different attributes such as; color, texture, type and etc.

* When it’s clean up time, ask your child to sort toys by attributes. For example, ask your child “Can you pick up all the toys that are the same color as this?”

* Encourage your children to name groups of things or activities. For example, at the dinner table, talk about attributes. You might say “2 people at this table wear glasses, 4 don’t.” or “3 have curly hair, 3 have straight.”

While you are doing these activities, use words such as “same,” “different,” “math,” “group,” “collection” and “set” as they apply and encourage your child them to use when they are describing their groups and comparing the groups they have created to one another. You may also ask your children questions such as, “Can you figure out what goes together?” “Can you sort these a different way?” “Why do these go together?” “Why do these not go together?” These kinds of open-ended questions will allow you to better understand your child thinking and push your child to be more precise in explaining their mathematical thinking processes.

Different children, different decisions

Children at different development stages are equipped with different mathematical abilities. A younger child will likely require less categories (sorting by two attributes) while an older child often can handle three, four or more. What you use for sorting also depends upon the age and ability of the child, as well as their interests. Some materials may be more challenging to sort for younger children (e.g., visually ambiguous materials) while others too simple and even boring for an older child (e.g., colored unifix cubes). Using real-life objects and situations to provide sorting experiences is always beneficial for all-around learning for all age groups. The bottom line is to know your child’s abilities, interests and to meet them where they are at, so you can just give them the right amount of challenge without underwhelming or overwhelming them.