Numeracy begins long before toddlers know the word names of numbers (one, two, three, etc.).  It begins when the youngest infants begin noticing differences in quantity and develop the understanding of “more and less”.  For older toddlers and preschoolers, learning the word names of numbers and saying those words in order is another really important numeracy skill.  Counting small groups of items is often the next step. Preschoolers can practice counting groups of objects as long as they are in small sets (1-5) and distinguishing between sets of quantities when those sets are very different (3 vs. 25).

Numeracy skills, like literacy skills, should be promoted as much as possible in child care. When opportunities arise during play-based everyday occurrences, every effort should be made to enhance and highlight concepts around quantity, space, and patterns.

Next week, I am going to write more about early Numeracy and ways in which teachers can promote it.

Age is an interesting concept for children because it is not concrete, it can’t be seen, and there are few rules to determine it. Do you remember thinking that your teacher was really old, only to find out many years later that she had only been out of school a couple of years which made her about 24?

Children as young as 2 can tell you how old they are.  This is because it is constantly being reinforced at home.  But just because they can tell you that they are “3” or “4”, doesn’t mean that they have a real understanding of what that number means.  Exploring the ages of family members is a way of exploring number and introducing the concept of age.   You could use the photographs of the families to ask the children how old they think everyone is.  You can then chart their answers in order to have a discussion about age.

It will continue to be more interesting to the children to talk about their own ages, as they are the most interesting topic to themselves.  Be sure to include their ages in the charts.

Usually, the boards are about 12″ X 12″, made of wood or plastic.  Some people use push pins to create the grid, but I prefer heavy nails, pounded deeply into the wood so that the rubber bands can’t pull the pins out.  This picture shows a really well-made geoboard.Once you have your piece of wood, you can lay out a grid with an even number of spaces on each side.  Place the nails about 1 to 1 1/2 inches apart evenly, and pound them in securely.  Here is another “recipe” for making a geoboard.

What is the purpose of the geoboard? Geoboards support early math concepts such as geometry and number concepts.  As children use the rubber bands, they create shapes on their boards.  They can make squares, rectangles, triangles and other “sided” shapes.  Be sure to talk to the children about rubber band safety as those colorful missiles are going to be pretty attractive.

Here is a picture of a very simple geoboard.

Children will also explore number concepts as they try and put the rubber bands around a certain “number” of pegs.  They may try and pull it around 3 or 4 pegs or “all” of the pegs.  Initially, expect them to simply play with the boards as they are pretty enticing (especially if you have provided plenty of colorful rubber bands) and later, you can give them directions by asking them to create  a “square” or a “triangle.”  Of course, as children approach school age, they can create shaped that have specific dimensions, i.e,  4 X 4 square or a 3 X 5 rectangle.  The possibilities are endless.