In the presentation of these materials, a child or adult student will be referred to in the male tense. This does not mean that females count less. It is for the sake of simplicity that words like his, him, he, etc. will be used. For the sake of simplicity, we will refer to a child as the one being taught. We ask the adults who will be taking this course, to understand and not be offended when the word child is used frequently.

LET'S BEGIN WITH ONE, TWO, THREE:

Learning how to count is one of the very basic tools needed to understand any concept of Math on any level. It's the same as starting with ABC when it comes to reading.

It's easier to begin with 1, 2, 3!

FUN ACTIVITIES TO DO WITH YOUR CHILD:

Teach your child to count with three fingers. Hold up a finger, as you count one, two, three. To make the activity more fun, giggle and tickle when you say three. Do this often throughout the day.

Take three paper plates and with a marker, write 1 on one plate, 2 on the second plate, and 3 on the third plate. Write the numbers right in the middle of the plate. Tack the plates on a wall where you can point to them throughout the day and count them as you point: one, two, three. When you are SURE your child knows how to count from one to three and understands how many each number represents, then let him color the plates. Circle the number first and instruct him to leave the number uncolored. Then put the plate back on the wall.

When you are getting your clothes ready for laundry, separate them into piles of three articles of clothing. Count each item as you pick it up: one, two, three.

When eating crackers, put the crackers into piles of three and count them together: one, two, three.

Count the silverware in piles of three.

Count your cups, glasses and plates in piles of three.

Count toys in piles of three.

Count buttons, stones, jacks, pencils, erasers, pens, markers, makeup, bandaids, anything that you can find around the house. Look on the inside and outside. Be careful that your very young child does not eat the items you are counting unless it's cake, candy or something digestible.

After about a week of counting one, two, three repetitively, you will want to begin counting "four" and "five". Click here to go to the next level.