Mathematical Literacy is Fun!

When enriching your child’s life, don’t forget about numbers and mathematical literacy development. Start by counting things. Count the number of Big Wheels outside the preschool building; count the number of swings at the playground; and count the number of dolls in the toy box. You can also compare quantity of things (“Who has more gummy bears left, you or your sister?”) or make size comparisons (“Who is taller, Mommy or Daddy?”).

Young children should be challenged to count everything in sight and to touch each object as it is counted whenever possible. This associates the process of counting with the concept of number. Children can also be encouraged to do mental arithmetic problems in meaningful contexts. I used to ask my children questions like, “How many of us are in the car?” “If we picked up Grandma and Grandpa, how many would there be then?” “How many would there be if we stopped for gas and I got out?”

As well, young children can solve simple addition and subtraction problems using manipulatives from a very young age. These manipulatives don’t have to be commercially-made; they can be created from almost any small objects such as buttons, shells, or small stones. Once they are shown how to do it, children enjoy solving increasingly challenging problems this way.

Just as children learn to recognize letters and associate them with sounds, young children can be exposed to numerals and to associate them with a corresponding number of items. For example, parents can seek out books in which numbers are featured, or they can create number books by writing a numeral on each page with the associated number of objects next to it. If you’re not much of an artist, colorful stickers can help with this.

Once children can do addition and subtraction in their heads (as in the car example, above) or with manipulatives, and once they can recognize numerals, they can begin to solve simple number sentences such as 1 + 3 = [ ]. It was once thought that young children were incapable of solving such problems, but I have found that some children as young as four can do it.

Our younger daughter, Miriam, started kindergarten when she was four and a half. She could do addition and subtraction in her head, but she couldn’t yet recognize the numerals. So the school provided her with a number line, and she would match the numeral on the paper with the numeral on the number line, then she would count up from zero to figure out what numeral it was. In this way, she was able to do the addition and subtraction problems in school. The teacher built upon her area of strength—mental math—to enable her to feel good about her ability to solve written problems.

As they become more confident with their arithmetic skills, the concepts of multiplication and division can be taught using manipulatives as well. With the use of manipulatives, questions like, “If I had sixteen pieces of candy, and I wanted to divide them equally among four friends, how many pieces of candy would each child receive?” and “If there were three monkeys in the cage at the zoo, and each monkey had three bananas, how many bananas would there be altogether?” may be solved. Eventually, elementary-age children will be able to do such problems in their heads.

When my children were in middle school, we used to practice rounding and adding numbers in our heads at the grocery store. Each time an item went into the cart, we’d round the amount to the nearest dollar, and then we’d add it to our running total. At the end, we’d make an estimate of how much our groceries would cost in total. We’d amaze the clerk in the store as we came close to the total amount spent almost every time.

Other abstract concepts involving numbers are date and time. You can start to talk about these concepts in when your child is in preschool. When going to preschool you can ask, “What day is today?” “What day will tomorrow be?” What day was it yesterday?” “How much time will it take for us to get ready for school in the morning?” “What time do we have to get up, then?”

Cooking is a great way to incorporate mathematical literacy into daily life. Once they are old enough to do more than just dump ingredients into the bowl and stir, they can learn to measure. This is a good way to introduce the concept of fractions in a meaningful way.

No matter exactly how you incorporate numbers and mathematical concepts into daily life, make sure to keep it fun, and children will see it as a game. Making math fun in the early years can go a long way toward helping children to enjoy the subject in school.