From 123 to Financial Competence

Learning to count involves a whole set of complex processes your child must master in order to become proficient at counting. It’s not as simple as learning a sequence of number words. When you give your child specific instructions to develop these early math skills and continue helping refine and consolidate such skills, your child will be more prepared for higher levels of math learning when he/she is in formal school.

When Teaching Your Child to Count

Do a Google search on ‘counting activities for young children’, and the browser returns over 1 million results. As parents, we are fortunate to have these resources so readily available at our disposal. At the same time, like many parents, you probably feel overwhelmed and have many questions.

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In this article, we look at what the research says about the processes that young children typically go through as they begin to acquire and make sense of numbers and counting.

Milestones and Developmental Progressions

As parents, from the time we brought our newborns home from the hospital we are obsessed making sure our children reach certain milestones. When I went in to see my OBGYN for my postpartum visit, she gave me a little card that listed some common milestones from 2 months to 2 years. Despite fully being aware that those benchmarks are averages and that each child is unique and develops at his/her own pace, every 2 to 4 months I found myself comparing my daughter’s skills and behaviors to those listed on the developmental guide (the one that was given to me).

When we look at those developmental guides closely, we’d notice that each domain (such as language, physical, and social and emotional development) follows a natural progression in learning and development. Our little ones need to develop and master certain basic concepts and skills before moving on to learn more complex things. We’ve observed that our children first learned to crawl and then walk. At 26-months old, my daughter is currently learning to jump (and doing this with grace!). She’s a fast runner (she runs on full speed up the hill when we’re heading to the playground).

Developmental Progressions in Early Math Concepts and Skills

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