Since it’s a new year and January is month number one, it’s time for some number fun. For children, number sense develops gradually and kids need many experiences with numbers to build important brain connections. Many number opportunities occur naturally in a day and will give your child experience with numbers: time to get up in the morning, counting the buttons on a shirt, how many slices of banana on breakfast cereal, the number of baby carrots tucked in a snack, clicking all the buckles on the car seat, the number of kids at daycare, catching the bus with the right number, leaving a new phone number, and there are undoubtedly more!
Counting and talking about numbers with your child will help encourage development of number sense–and readiness for kindergarten, too. Kindergarten just builds and extends on what kids are already learning at home. Early experiences count, pardon the pun. Can you make your day count with some number learning fun with your little one?