Key points:
- Numeracy, or math skills, is a crucial aspect of a child’s cognitive development at ages 3 to 4.
- Children start learning the foundations of math skills from an early age through observation and play.
- Integrate counting into daily activities, like counting objects during walks or while playing, to enhance math skills.
- Encourage counting using objects your child loves and help them organize toys by color or size.
An important aspect of your kid’s cognitive development between the age of 3 and 4 is the development of different aspects of their reasoning skills, like their ability to apply math concepts in different areas of their life. This is called numeracy, also known as math skills.
Before reaching the 48-month mark, many children know three or four numbers and have a pretty good understanding of counting. That might allow them to answer simple questions like “how many cookies are there?”. According to the Raising Children Network, kids start learning the bases for what will later be their math skills from the day they arrive into the world, both by watching and by playing.
Here are some ideas on how you can help your child develop their early math skills, according to the 36-48 months recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics:
- Integrate counting into your daily life. You can play games of counting things when commuting, notice and count trees when walking, or count other kids when you’re at the playground.
- Use things your child loves to encourage them to count and be interested in what you are doing. For example, ask them how many dolls they are playing with, how many insects there are when you see some, how many hugs and kisses should you give them after saying goodnight, etc.
- Help your kid arrange some of their toys by color or by size.
If you want to check-out more ideas on how to boost your little one’s early math skills, you can check out the Kinedu catalog and search under “Concept learning”.
