Learning Numbers

Learning numbers is as important for your toddler as learning the alphabet. You can start helping her in learning numbers and how to count when she is around 1.5 years old. Learning numbers help to develop your child's mathematical and analytical skills.

As a parent, you must remember to make learning numbers a fun and enjoyable experience for your toddler. Do not make it an ordeal for her. Children are by nature very inquisitive and have a great interest in learning new things. Their approach to learning, however, is different from that of adults. So, do not try to "teach" your kid numbers. And most certainly, do not get angry with her if she takes a longer time than you expected to learn. Instead, join her in a joint exploration of numbers. Her natural tendency is to imitate your actions and wanting to communicate with you. This will make learning numbers in a stimulating environment enjoyable. It will also be a much more enjoyable and fruitful experience both for you and her.

Video on Teaching Numbers to Young Children

Tips to Help the Child in Learning Numbers in an Enjoyable Environment

• Create cards with brightly written numbers on them. Lift each card up and read out the number. Ask her to repeat the number with you.
• You can use certain nursery rhymes such as "Five Little Monkeys" to teach your child her numbers.
• Use games that help in recognising numbers. These can be building blocks with numbers printed on them.
• Use various objects around the house to help her learn counting. Examples of this can be one telephone, two pens, three pencils, four toys and so on.
• Give her objects such as the remote control, calculator and other such objects and ask her to identify the numbers. You can also do this by pointing out to the keyboard of your computer or telephone. You can also point to the clock on the wall.
• Pick food that your toddler finds interesting and make her count them. Examples can be the number of fruits of a kind in the fruit basket, the number of carrots in your refrigerator and so on.
• Cut small pieces of cardboard into small squares. On each square draw an image of a certain number. For example, one square could have one apple and another five balls. Shuffle the squares and put them in front of the toddler. Ask her to pick a square and count the number of objects in the square.
• Point out boards, vehicle licence plates or anything that has numbers printed on them. Ask her to identify the numbers printed. Licence plates can also help in teaching the alphabets.
• Use coloured paper to cut the outline of numbers. Bright coloured paper will fascinate your toddler and make her interested.
• Write out the numbers in big letters on a note book and ask your toddler to trace the numbers. As he writes the numbers, you can tell him what he is writing and ask him to repeat them with you.
• Draw the digits using a series of dots in a notebook and ask your toddler to connect the dots.
• Read counting books to your child. Point out the numbers as you read them to her. Ensure that she counts along with you.
• Once your child begins to learn his numbers beyond 9, explain the concept of 10s to your child.

Watch some more interesting videos on helping young children in learning numbers here.