Teaching preschoolers to count should be as natural as possible. The following methods will help you to get acquainted with new science during your daily activities.
Math Games
1. Material preparation. First, prepare the material (it will come in handy for many math classes) – draw spheres on a piece of paper and inside each, numbers from one to five, later you can add new ones. An example of the first game – inside the circle, the child must put as many seeds, feathers or small toys as indicated by the number inside the circle.
2. Lunch bill. Prepare a small snack during the afternoon snack – raisins, pieces of fruit, pumpkin seeds. The child chooses a product and eats it, and the second one puts it on the number. This will allow you to visually understand which is smaller and which is larger, as well as calculate how much is eaten in the afternoon.
3. How to teach a child to count. You can count not only toys, but multi-colored buttons or beads. The kid takes a few red beads, a few green beads or toys from Kinder Surprise, then counts them and points to the corresponding element.
4. Learning to write. The child draws a number in a circle and puts the required number of objects on it.
5. Steam locomotive. If you have a children’s steam locomotive with wagons, attach a number to each wagon. The number on the car corresponds to the passenger seats.
6. Building a tower. A young student builds a tower and connects cubes or Lego blocks with a number.
7. We pass the item to mom. Between mother and child is the same sheet with circles and numbers “face” to the child. Only now we have to spoil it a little – make small holes in the circles so that the pencil passes. The kid gives pencils to mom exactly in the amount indicated by the number in the selected circle. Entertainment can be combined with drawing.
8. Drawing on the sand. You can also draw with finger paints on paper. Mom draws a number, and the preschooler names and shows on paper.
9. How to introduce children to numbers – use music. By studying mathematics, you can develop your ear. Ask your student when he doesn’t see you – “how many times have I knocked on the knee, how many times have I hit the pot with beans?”
10. We feed the animals. Cut out the animals from the magazine and glue the numbers to them. Now prepare “food” for these animals, you can draw it or cut it out of a magazine. The child gives the pet food in the amount indicated on his abdomen. Thus, he learns not only to count, but also gets acquainted with the concept of “who eats what” or repeats it.
11. Caterpillar. Ask your child to create caterpillars on paper, as in the picture below. Caterpillars should be depicted as a pyramid so that one is smaller than the other, you count circles together and draw numbers in them. The longest is the largest number. The drawing will show the child the difference between the quantity.
12. Hitting the target. The child rolls up a small ball of plasticine and tries to get into any circle with a number, and when he hits the target, he calls it. Then, you can count the same amount of counting sticks or other items.
13. Search for treasures. Draw a simple map and mark the locations of the treasure. Drawn ladybugs with a different number of dots will serve as a treasure. The child finds a ladybug and puts it in a “house” – a circle with the corresponding number.
14. Pyramid. If there are large building blocks, stick numbers on them and start building a pyramid. Ask your child to give you block number one or number two.
In addition to using the above games, try to fit the score into the daily rhythm of the day. For example, invite your child to cook five forks, water three flowers, name a drawn number on the ground while walking.