{"id":20509,"date":"2023-11-16T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/?p=20509"},"modified":"2025-02-20T13:22:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T21:22:27","slug":"building-strong-foundations-for-early-math-skills-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/2023\/building-strong-foundations-for-early-math-skills-at-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Building strong foundations for early math skills at home"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One of my daughter Kat\u2019s favorite activities as a toddler was lining up a set of plastic bears that she would \u201cborrow\u201d from her older sister\u2019s toys. They came in four different colors, and at first she enjoyed just putting them in a row. Later, she would make simple patterns as she arranged them in a snaking line. We have a video of her from when she was almost two years old saying the word \u201cda\u201d each time she pointed at a bear, moving her finger along the row, one by one. While she didn\u2019t have the number words just yet, she was clearly developing the beginning procedures for counting. This video has remained a family favorite, admittedly less because of its wonderful depiction of early math skills and more because of how quickly Kat abandoned her counting when her sister walked in the room with a new doll. Apparently one new doll was larger in this toddler\u2019s mind than twenty old bears!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started thinking about all this after writing my previous post<\/a> about the importance of early math skills. Many studies<\/a>indicate that the math skills that children have when they enter school are highly predictive of their math achievement beyond elementary school. Additionally, a recent review of the research literature<\/a> found that 32 out of the 37 studies reviewed showed a positive association between home numeracy activities and children\u2019s math skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this got me thinking about how I encouraged math skills in my own children and what opportunities I might have missed. It also got me wondering where in her developmental trajectory Kat was when she was \u201ccounting\u201d those bears. Luckily, there are many resources available to help parents and caregivers support early math development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What young children know about math<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When thinking about how to support children\u2019s math development, it can be helpful to understand what they are potentially ready to learn at each stage. Although every child is different, you might be surprised to learn what research has shown children to be capable of doing and understanding at various ages. For example, several studies<\/a>suggest that children younger than a year old (and, in one study, as young as a few days old<\/a>) can tell when the number of objects pictured changes from two to three or vice versa, indicating they have an innate sense of number. Another series of experiments<\/a> suggests that even when they make mistakes counting, kids from three to five years of age may understand key concepts of counting, including one-to-one correspondence, the need to say the counting numbers in the correct sequence, and that the last number said represents the total counted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do you know what your child might be ready to do without having to dig through all the research? Luckily there are resources that can help. Understood.org has a general overview<\/a> of what children may know or understand starting at birth. Sesame Workshop has developed a matrix<\/a> that shows what skills children may be learning at different stages in what have been identified as five key areas in early math development<\/a>: number concepts and relations, number operations, geometry and spatial sense, measurement and comparison, and patterns. This matrix gives you a sense of the progression of skills in each area. Knowing this can help you know what concepts to explore next as your child shows understanding of previous concepts. This is important, as home math activities have been shown to be most effective<\/a> when you stretch your child\u2019s thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Math is everywhere<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Incorporating math into your child\u2019s life is simpler than you may think. You don\u2019t need special materials; the things and places you interact with daily provide all the stimulus needed to engage in rich math conversations and help your child develop early math skills. When my girls were young, I would often highlight when they used math in real life by enthusiastically singing, \u201cThat was math!\u201d You can imagine how much my girls loved this. Thankfully Gigliana Melzi, a professor and researcher at NYU, has identified four steps for getting your kids involved in math at home<\/a> that are more effective, and potentially less annoying, than my approach:<\/p>\n\n\n\n