What are you doing with your 2 year olds for math?

[Maquenzie]

I'd like some new ideas.  I want to be more focused and productive with math.

My daughter is 25 months, and right now we are doing (not all in day, but these are the things I have done with her, some are displayed on her work shelves for her to choose to do whenever.  She favors reading right now.):

-Little Math (intermittently, only when she's receptive)
-Counting on a ten bead abacus (it only goes to 50 though), I haven't decided if I should get a slavonic abacus or focus soley on soroban for the future
-Counting on the soroban or I'll ask her to show me a number (she can do 1-4), we've only just started
-Counting iPad apps
-I'll put a number of small objects in a bowl and ask her how many (she can do 1-3, sometimes 4) without counting
-Matching cards (printed, laminated cards from more.starfall) they have various representations of the numbers (tally marks, dice, numerals, objects, etc.)
-Counting or color on a hundreds board chart (she can only count to about 14 reliably, than it might be "18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 22, 20-11", etc.
-Play with montessori colored counting rods (we use these as cuisenaire rods and they are the same dimensions, but in montessori bead colors since she will be attending a montessori school). We mostly just notice patterns or that you can pick a rod and find two other rods that add up to that one and talk about the language of math "half", "add", "subtract", but I don't feel like she's learned a lot from this. I'm just getting her comfortable and engaged so that we can use Miquon Orange in the future (I have just started Miquon with my 5 year old and we sometimes do it all together, but my 2 year old probably isn't getting a ton out of it).
-Kumon My Book of Numbers 1-30 (we are going slow, since this book is geared for 3 and up, and she doesn't yet have the fine motor skill to finish the book, she does like it and any handwriting though)
-Kumon Write and Wipe Numbers 11-30 (because I loaned out and never got back 1-10), we match up beans or other little objects (vase filler, goldfish crackers, etc.) on the little dots as we count and then she'll trace and erase and trace and erase, etc. the numeral (she loves to write).
-Brillkids number writing (laminated, and she useds a wet erase pen and little spray bottle of water and small wipe to rinse and repeat)
-LeapFrog Math Videos
-Montessori House Big and Fun Math
-Number Beats writing numerals (she just watches and I give her blank paper and a pen, I don't really go over it more with her.  She attempts to write, but really cannot do any on her own besides 1's and 0's, and I don't really expect her to.)
-more.starfall play in the math area (includes numerals 1-20, 25, 50, 100; and games and songs for all 4 operations)
-random play with blocks or cars where we get a number and add or subtract or count (I probably don't do this enough)
-random youtube videos, count to 100 mostly
-the intro video for touchmath kindergarten software (because she loves it, the demo doesn't work anymore, so we haven't done anymore, but she loves the "bear song")



That feels like a lot now that I've typed it out and I may have forgotten some.  But mostly, it feels unfocused.  I'd like to get more focused somehow, wether that means sticking with one thing more consistently, getting a new thing, a real curriculum (rightstart perhaps?), or something else. 

What are you doing with your 2 year olds (or what did you do at this age?)

[fma001]

I used (and still use) Marshmallow Math: Early Math for Young Children, which is a book for toddlers and up. It is filled with ideas on how to teach math from the toddler to early elementary years.

[lzp11]

We also like marshmallow math. We have had a LOT for teddy bear picnics with one cup and one plate etc for each bear!  And we are using Numicon about once a week although DD is a bit bored with it at the moment.

I still don't feel she is ready for a structured programme yet. We are playing with several maths apps on the iPad and this is working well at the moment.

The apps we like at the moment are:
monkey math preschool Lunchbox ( this is quite easy for DD but she really enjoys it!  The most challenging game is a memory match which I was really pleased to watch her learn the patience and a strategy for solving)
Monkey mathSchool sunshine
Eurotalk maths - this is quite expensive for an app but it has 10 modules and covers a really good range of concepts from matching and sorting, counting, patterns etc.
Fingercount - very simple idea good for reinforcing counting

I would be very happy for more math app suggestions for this age group as I like to rotate the apps each week.

[Kerileanne99]

Okay, myTwo-year-old and I spend A LOT of our day 'playing' math, definitely her favorite activity of the moment...so much so that I worry about her not wanting too do other activities, but I feel like I need to foster her desire at the moment!  We have EL sets for JonesGeniuses, RightStart, MathTacular, LM, innumerable music/maths DVDs, MarshMallow Math, and Singapore Maths EarlyBird A and B, along with all of the Singapore math readers...oh, and all of the MathStart books and now the free TouchMath materials...A wee bit on the ridiculous side, and yet, she wants bits of it All day long!!"
If you have questions on which would specifically look good to your kiddo, I would be more than happy to give you details/ comparisons if you would like...PM me with your questions...
iPad apps...if you have not seen Bugs and Buttons, made by Little Bit Studios, LLC, take a look...counting, subitizing, sorting, prewriting activities, you name it...best all around fantastic math activity app I have found,and we have way too many!

[signs]

Mine I use colorful small balls for him to count to make it more playful and enjoyable for him to do it.

[mom2bee]

Please do NOT PM one another, I'm sure we'd all love to hear about your success with toddlers and math, so please just post here on the general board so we can all learn together!

[mypashmina]

I printed out all the Doman dot cards ages ago, but didn't really get in to the rhythm of using them frequently enough.

My boy is nearly 2 now.

His reading is good, so I place the quantity dot cards around on the floor and  I have written the words for the number and the digits for the numbers, then i help him match the words to the numbers ... we've done this with other things like types of fish, herbs, animals etc (some films on my blog)... and i didn't think he would be interested in doing it with the dot cards, but it is definitely one of the top 5 requests from him for this sort of matching activity.

It's a good recognition of quantity that I think is the key to finding maths easy.

For simple sums, i will do something similar, but all with digits rather than the dot cards (unless he loses interest in this type of activity before getting that far!)

[Kerileanne99]

Mom2bee-you are right and I want to share my Aha moment today, as well as give any of you with tiny ones some incentive to keep going, just as I get from those with older kids on this forum!
This being my first and only kiddo, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect that a two-year old could do with Maths but everyday she teaches me so many reasons to ignore general expectations!
So, as many of you know from previous posts, my LO wants to 'play math' ALL day long.  We have a ridiculous amount of early maths programs and manipulatives (see above posts if you want to know!). Still, we do bits from each as she is just two and has a typical attention span, plus tends to become fixated on a concept and any one program does not seem to provide the depth she seems to want!

Today we had a very ODD day...And EVEN as well!  This morning whilst showering, A was playing in the bathroom with some old rubber blocks from her babyhood that we sometimes play with in the bathtub.  They are solid colors, with various examples of a single number of objects on each face, with the numeral on one face, from 1-10...a few days ago we did a Marshmallow Maths lesson of counting by twos, and I had mentioned about odd and even numbers.  We practiced dividing up objects by two, between her and her omnipresent stuffed pal Hen, and I showed her that even numbers meant that you could share them equally between two friends, or divide them by two.  I actually didn't really focus on this part as we were practicing our counting by twos!

So when she was splitting up all the blocks into two piles, one of even numbers and one of odd numbers, I was quite surprised!  At this point, I actually thought she had just memorized which numbers between 1-10 were called even and which were called odd...but then she came to the number nine, and proceeded to look at the objects on the side, pointing and saying, 'one for you, one for hen, one for you, one for hen, etc...she then gleefully shouted "nine is odd, mommy!". Okay, so I was very excited, but the skeptical scientist in me thought, well, she had a 50/50 shot of getting it correct!

So I hurriedly rinsed (most) of my hair, and tried to create a (naked!) teaching moment because she was so incredibly thrilled and excited!  Little did I know that it would turn into an all day affair...(I did manage to find some clothes )

She 'invented' concept day for us...I went and got various maths manipulatives, including counting bears, an Abacus, beads, a number tower, and her hundreds board...My two year old knew exactly what even/odd meant, all the way to one hundred, wether with numerals or manipulatives.  At one point, I wrote out the number 1,000,000.( she is fascinated by this after reading a great USborne book called 'How Much is a Million?' that includes a poster with exactly 1,000,000 stars!) she said, " it ends in zero, so it must be even!"

So the whole day long we have been playing odd/even games with all of our daily activities...this is FANTASTIC because it means lots of counting as well.  During reading time we noted even/odd page numbers, we counted beans and fruit at lunch, we counted steps to the mailbox, we counted pieces of mail, we counted number of rings of the phone, laundry bits, you name it, everything being identified as even or odd and her saying, can't divide that by two, can't share fairly with Hen!

The ultimate thrill for me, that spectacular moment when you feel like super mommy and your heart swells with pride for your child ? She looked at her 100's board, and said, ' look, Mommy, it's a pattern! Odd, even, odd, even,etc!  All the way to a hundred with me alternately hugging her and wiping away tears of pride and love...ridiculous, I know, but I am sure many of you know exactly those moments I am referring to!

Anyway, I thought I would share as when I started following her maths lead 2 months ago, I never thought a toddler would be so capable of learning so much or making so many connections...things like, Mommy, a pentagon has an odd number of sides and a hexagon has an even number!  

Anyway, for those of you considering maths programs, be ready! I have a feeling your kiddos are going to go way beyond ANYTHING you could anticipate, but on their own terms!  I hope you find many (even naked!!) teachable moments!

[linzy]

Keri congrats! Very inspiring. It really pushes me to focus more on math with my little one.

We have never been a "mathy" family and I don't like to admit it but have always focused on reading first as it seems easier. Around 3 I decided the it was finally time to start teaching my older math and compared to reading I feel like I definitely lost that special "never being able to remember a time when it wasn't easy" early learning advantage he got with reading. At 5 he has mastered all 4 math functions and can cross multiply, which I know is advanced but I feel like we had to work so much harder for it than we would have if we had started early, and he does have a little of that classic math anxiety that is so common in kids.

Keep going with yours, every joyful minute you spend now will probably save 5 minutes of more tedious learning down the line.

[Kerileanne99]

I recently received a fantastic PM about all the maths programs I am using for my toddler, and whether it was necessary to have all of these to make sure a kiddo could truly understand maths!  It was such a great question that I decided to post the answer here as well.  Another member recently reminded me (Absolutely right Mom2bee!) that whilst PMing is great, everyone benefits when we post in the forum...
So I will attempt to provide my OPINION on the matter!  Please feel free to listen or disregard as complete rubbish
So, is it necessary? Not in the least!  In fact, I truly believe that a mother with much time and enthusiasm could gift her child with a broad, fantastic basis of maths understanding by only consulting free online resources, the local library, etc...
In fact, for many kids, I would say that too many maths programs could actually be a detriment.  It might be better to pick one or two good ones, and stick to them rigorously!
Unfortunately, or fortunately, or both, I have a toddler currently addicted to anything numbers or 'maths'.  Every activity we do, even reading, she wants to identify page numbers, whether they are odd/even, and too many more things to get into here!
When we have a mini maths lesson, as with counting by twos, I find myself pulling out almost all of the programs and their way of approaching a concept to keep her interested and excited!

Anyway, we have chosen to spend way too much money on math and science programs because we want to foster her interest in any way possible...believe me, my consternation at her unwillingness to work on any language other than ASL knows no bounds

I just know that, like many moms here, we are constantly worried and stressed that we aren't doing enough in any particular area, and I DONT want any young moms reading my posts thinking, oh, wow, I have got to get these for my kiddos!  It sucks!  But if you weren't a fantastic mom giving it your all, you wouldn't be here!

I only offer my experience with the multiple programs as informational, and there are others here in the forum that have been using many of these programs, in depth, for years!

The enthusiasm and fit will be the best measure of success!

Happy learning!

[A_BC]

Thank you Keri for such an encouraging post! There are way too many curriculi on the market that we get easily lost. That's why we spend so much time on this forum, .

Well, Here is what I've been doing with my toddler since he was 12m (except for LM that he started at 4 mths):
- LM: though he isn't much into long equations, so we are progressing quite slowly for the moment.
- Signing Time practice time 123s: to reinforce numerals recognition
- Peter weatherall's Mathematicos Fantasticos and musical math: my DS loves the angles song
- youTube videos for counting
- fridge magnets number line: we always count forward and backward, I will try to upgrade it very soon by a big floor number line
- Priddy counting book (My Little Counting Book) along with a customized abacus à la Rightstart
- Hands-on activities

My DS is almost 18 m now, so I still have time to decide about one or two programs when he will be 2. That will also give him the time to "graduate" from our current curriculum. I am really thinking about sth that is more Soroban-oriented for arithmetics along with Montessori-like activities for the other math areas. Your opinion is much appreciated

[khatty]

Kerri, that is an amazing list of activities, thank you for sharing.  Would it be possible for you to list, with links if possible, your favourite 3-4 free (or almost free) math websites?

[signs]

To make the learning how to count more fun for my kid I often grab them with me when I do grocery and told them to count the items while I'm pushing the grocery cart. They always love to count chocolate bars. LOL.

[nellie]

love your story Keri. My DD now 2 and a half, she loves math and can count to 20 easily but I maybe have ran out of ideas just how to get more creative on math again. Reading your posts get me all fired up and here I am at 1.45 am still searching and googling all the stuff you mentioned! Kuddos!

[kpinky]

Hi everyone. Thats all there when babies are too younger. We have to strive hard to get their interest in maths. I struggled with my son to get his interest in maths. But after joining secondary education his teacher gave free maths lessons http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gurubix&page=1 which will create interest in a child's mind. Now he himself goes through maths lessons and ask me or his father about his doubt. we feel happy to help him.

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