I know I put an even number of socks in the laundry. Why is there 1 left over? Maybe I miscounted. Speaking of…. To help your child develop some kindergarten readiness early math skills, you can even use socks. The first skill that young children learn is counting. Simply practice counting all the socks. Then, you can add in (pardon the pun) some other concepts, such as more or less. Who has the most socks to put away? Do you have more or does your sister? Does your brother have more blue socks or do you?
For children who are ready for more, do some counting by 2’s, using pairs of socks. They are ideal for that. Or adding: 2 blue socks and 2 red socks make how many socks? Oh, oh, there’s an extra red one. Now, how many?
A few quick minutes with an ordinary activity such as counting and problem solving with socks done many, many times will build early math skills. Plus, your child will see how we use math everyday and be comfortable with it. Math phobia will not be problem for your little one. Have fun with your little one counting and learning and you won’t need to work your socks off for readiness for kindergarten.