Teaching children to count: when to start and how to do it

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Learning to count can start from the first day of life. Parents can encourage their children to count by counting on them at every opportunity. Reading books provides many opportunities to count with children, if there are animals on the page then they can be counted, teaching what animals look like and how to count. Counting can be encouraged even when walking from room to room, measuring how many steps it takes from room to room, up the stairs, and all sorts of other places.

The next stage in counting is teaching children to count from numbers other than one. This can be done by placing seven blocks, having them count to seven, and then moving two blocks to the front after telling them to remember that number. They will soon understand this concept and begin to count up from other numbers as their counting skills develop.

After counting from higher numbers comes the skip count. This is nothing more than the multiplication tables, but it encourages children to learn them early, as well as to get the idea of ​​what they are. Printable sheets can be found online for parents to print out, and to begin with, they can count the times tables together, slowly but surely helping their children learn them. Obviously, it’s best to start with the times table two up, but there’s nothing wrong with reviewing it over the course of a few days and then repeating it over and over again to help kids learn faster.

It is important to encourage children to count for themselves, which they will no doubt end up doing anyway. When children play with others, they can begin to count all the blocks they are playing with or how many of them there are, in turn teaching the other children to count. Schools will take over teaching children to count, eventually introducing a standard they must meet if they want to keep up with the work. From here, parents can begin to teach what is needed for their children and work to a standard instead of continuing without knowing where to stop.

In conclusion, counting should be encouraged and taught from the earliest possible age in a child’s life. There are many ways to do both, and all of them should be explored to keep them fresh and interesting for children to learn.

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