Mathematics holds a crucial place in the school curriculum and has far-reaching implications for education. Parents often ponder how to initiate the teaching of mathematics right from the basics and how to guide their children in learning to count from an early age. This ensures that they can effortlessly count to one hundred and have a solid foundation for kindergarten and school. If you’re looking for guidance on how to count to one hundred or teaching kids to count to 100, this article is here to help.
Counting for Children 1-4 Years Old
There are various effective ways to teach young children how to count, and one of these methods involves using Doman cards. These cards display a specific number of dots, such as 3, alongside the corresponding numeral. The goal is for a child to master 100 of these cards within 30 days, which means they will learn to count up to one hundred.
The Doman approach relies heavily on visualization. The child sees the number of dots on each card and connects them to the corresponding numeral. Here’s a straightforward guide on how to use Doman cards to teach numbers:
- Create cardboard cards with a number written on one side and a matching number of dots drawn on the other side.
- Show the child a card with a single dot and say the word “one.”
- Continue displaying other cards following the same pattern.
Typically, a set of cards consists of at least ten or more cards, but you can split a set in half, especially if it contains 12 or 14 cards. In that case, you can show the child only 6 or 7 cards at a time. The objective is to do this quickly, ideally within 10-15 seconds. This roughly translates to spending about one second on each card and a few seconds to switch cards. Starting from the 3rd or 4th lesson, you can even begin to shuffle the cards, initially presenting them in a specific order and then mixing them up.
You can also incorporate counting into everyday activities, like counting trees, lampposts, or balconies while going for a walk. It’s crucial to ensure that counting lessons are not just about repetitive exercises and writing calculations on paper. Once the child grasps the fundamentals of addition and subtraction, you can gradually introduce multiplication and division concepts.
Teaching Counting to 5-6 Year-Olds
When children reach the age of five, it’s a good time to start introducing them to counting in a gradual manner. To begin, it’s important to use cards with pictures to help the child grasp the connection between numbers and the actual quantity of objects. You can show a card with a specific number of objects and verbalize the corresponding number. Additionally, it’s helpful to familiarize the child with numerals using cards that have images or associations. For instance, you can explain that the digit “1” looks like a slim person, while “2” resembles a swan, and so on.
By the time a child is six years old, it’s appropriate to introduce basic counting tasks. Start with exercises that involve comparing the numerical value of numbers, such as determining which numbers are greater, which are smaller, what comes before, what comes after, and so forth. You can use questions like “How many teddy bears are there?” or “Which is more: cubes or balls?” to engage the child in these activities.
Find a Math Tutor
First grade math tutors are awesome at breaking down counting for kids. You can easily find a tutor online who’ll work one-on-one with your child from afar, boosting their math skills. It’s common for parents to get a tutor to help their kid get ready for school, tackle homework, or get up to speed with what they’re learning in class. It’s a real time-saver and makes learning way more effective.
Over at Mathema’s online school, you have the option to book a diagnostic session. During this, a tutor will figure out exactly where your child stands knowledge-wise and match them with the perfect teacher.
Up Next: Fun Counting Tricks for Kids
Kick off teaching your kiddo to count with stuff they can touch and see — think blocks, sticks, cards, and even their own fingers. Finger counting? It’s a hit for its simplicity and ease for kids to grasp.
How to Teach Your Child to Count on Their Fingers?
Dive into finger counting once your little one gets the hang of adding and subtracting things. If they’re already a pro at counting stuff around them, you might skip the basics. Playing with blocks or sticks might not cut it for them anymore.
Start simple: use one hand’s fingers for cool, kid-friendly challenges. Like this addition game:
“Say you’ve got two apples, show me with two fingers. I’ve got three apples, so I’ll show three fingers. Put them together, and bam — we’ve got five apples.”
Don’t forget about subtraction exercises too. Like this:
“Imagine you’ve got four candies, show me with four fingers. Now, you give one candy away, put one finger down. Look, you’ve got three candies now.”
Once your kid nails adding and subtracting up to five without any mistakes, it’s time to level up to using all ten fingers for counting. Just a heads-up, though: as they move on, it’s important to ease off the finger counting bit by bit. Relying on it too much could make mental math tricky for them later on.
How to Get Your Kid Started with Adding and Subtracting?
Addition and subtraction are like the ABCs of math, laying down the groundwork for all those future math adventures with division and multiplication. The trick is to get your little one comfy with the idea that numbers are just fancy ways of counting stuff. Grab some blocks, toys, or anything they can pile up or spread out to make this a hands-on experience.
Here’s a simple game plan for teaching them the basics:
- Start with the magic of number 2: show them how bringing one thing together with another magically makes two. That’s number 2 in action!
- Apply the same logic to other numbers all the way up to 10;
- Make sure they get the hang of it, playing around with items and grouping them without any oopsies;
- Nailed addition? Sweet! Now, switch gears to subtraction with the same hands-on approach.
For kiddos around 5-6 years old, getting the hang of addition and subtraction early on is key. The school stuff they’ll dive into soon throws a lot of this at them, so getting a head start can really make a difference.
Time to Dive into Division and Multiplication
Alright, once your kiddo is pretty solid with their adding and subtracting, it’s game time for division and multiplication. Kick things off with multiplication by bringing in some visuals. Picture this: a couple of boxes filled with blocks. Two boxes holding 5 blocks each? That’s 10 blocks total. Three boxes? That’s 15. It’s a hands-on way to see the numbers add up.
Now, let’s tackle those multiplication tables. Think of them like catchy tunes or rhymes. Spin examples in a rhymey way: two times three hits you with six, two times four lands you on eight, and so on. You can get creative here — sing them out, jot them down, or even deck out your walls with them. Stick to mastering one “rhyme” a session. Kicking off with twos is a solid start. Keep at it for a week, and those times tables will start to stick. Once you’ve got that down, level up to threes, fours, and keep the quiz vibe going.
Division’s the biggie — it’s the trickiest math mountain to climb for most kids. Only venture there once your child’s nailed addition, subtraction, and multiplication, and ideally, can breeze through those multiplication tables. A neat trick for division? Break those numbers into tens and ones — it’s like a math puzzle coming together, piece by piece.
10+5 = 10+1+1+1+2 = 15
20+7 = 10+10+5+2 = 20+5+2 = 5+2 = 7 = 27
25+36 = 10+10+10+10+10+6+5 = 50+5+6 = 5+6=11 = 61
Kids catch on to this technique superfast and even start doing the math in their heads before you know it.
When you’re teaching division, make it fun by using stuff like candy or toys. Say you tell a kid to split six candies between two friends. After they get the hang of it with real things they can touch, switch it up to imaginary scenarios. Like, imagine having six candies to share evenly with two buddies. Have them work it out mentally and share what they come up with.
There’s a bit of a debate among teachers about whether kids should dive into multiplication and division before they even start school. It really boils down to what each kid is ready for. If parents feel their child can handle it, they should totally go for it, but keep it light and fun. “Mathema,” an online school, has got math courses for 2nd graders and up, taught by pros. It’s a great way for kids to nail the curriculum and even outdo their classmates in math skills.
Getting Your Kid to Ace Mental Math
Moving on to mental math is like leveling up in the math world for your kid. They should already be pretty good at adding, subtracting, and the basics of multiplication and division. To get them comfy with crunching numbers in their head, it’s all about linking numbers to something they can picture. Start with something tangible like blocks. Count them out together first, then switch to imagining and adding them up in their head. Stick with objects they’re already familiar with to make it a breeze.
You might also want to try the Zaitsev block technique — it ties numbers to shapes, making it a bit more visual. Then, mix in some variety like blocks, charts, sticks, cards, and even board games that fit the theme. This way, they get to practice counting some things out loud and others just in their noggin, gradually shifting towards doing all the math mentally.
Teaching Your Kid How to Tackle Column Counting
Dive into column counting with your kid only after they’ve nailed counting up to a hundred and got the hang of what units and tens are all about, plus the whole deal with digits and their values. Kick things off by letting them know that when we’re adding or subtracting numbers in columns, we deal with each place value on its own—units and tens get their own spotlight.
Show them how it’s done with something they can see. Like, if you’re adding up units and end up with a number bigger than 9, you only jot down the last digit and keep the first one in your mental pocket. Handy tip: jot that carried-over digit right above the tens column to keep track. So, if you’ve got 12+19, you do 2+9, land on 11, scribble down the 1, and bump the other 1 to the tens, ending up with 31.
Subtracting’s pretty much the same dance, but if you’ve got a smaller number on top, you’re gonna need to borrow a ten from the next door tens column.
To get your kid up to speed on counting and the basics of adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing, stick to these easy-peasy rules:
- Hit the math practice for 20-30 minutes a couple of times a day;
- Don’t sweat the repeat stuff unless it’s really needed to crack a problem;
- Make counting part of the daily routine (let them count all sorts of things like steps, trees, cats, you name it).
Keep in mind, learning to count comes step by step, so by the time school rolls around, they should be comfy counting to 100, both out loud and on the sly. If counting’s still a tough cookie, maybe look into getting them some one-on-one time with a math tutor online. It’s a cool way to tackle the tricky bits in a fun, interactive way.
