How to Introduce Math to a Toddler

Video Transcript

"Have you ever wondered how to introduce your child to math concepts? Hi I'm Dr. Donna with some tips on doing that. The first thing you need to realize is that children from a very early age around twelve months can begin to comprehend amount and quantity. And it's your job as the parent to use every opportunity when your playing with them as a teachable moment. You could begin the process by using videos again I'm a big believer in using dvds. Some of these are Brainy Babies, Big Brainy Babies, that's a tongue twister, Baby Einstein. There's a lot of good ones out there. Make sure that when you're using these dvds with your child that you spend time with them doing it. You could also do activities using simple objects that they're playing with. Part of math skills and concepts comprehending them requires children to understand that you sort things and you classify and that there's patterns. For example if I had my daughter here, I'd ask her to how many, to tell me how many red ones do we have, how many blue straw do we have, and how many yellow. And then I'd ask her to count them altogether and I'd try to make the connection between the different groups of straws and the total amount. By doing activities like that with you child day in and day out when your playing with them, they'll begin to comprehend math skills and concepts. You also when they're playing with water or sand it's a wonderful opportunity to use pails and scoopers and fill out how many scoops it takes to fill a bucket. Sand and water play is a wonderful way and children love it so use every moment during play to count, to sort, to classify to put things into pattern. Use their life and play as a teachable moment. I'm Dr. Donna with some tips on how to teach math concepts and skills to your child."