Math Milestones for your 3-year-old

Children learn about mathematics long before they start school. Simple activities like counting their toes, making them discover different shapes or getting familiar with the sizes is a step towards their awakening to the world of mathematics. It is one of the most basic and fundamental areas we start to grasp at a very early stage of development. Children begin to understand and describe shapes, spaces around them before they even learn how to sit.

We tend to use mathematical intelligence from the moment we come into this world and open our eyes to it. The way we train and improve our mind with math skills becomes significantly impactful on the quality of the lives we lead. Understanding the importance of math and exploring ways to improve math skills for children becomes more important, especially for parents.

While every child naturally learns math at their own pace, you can provide them with a platform to bring learning consistency to their lives and it’s never too early or too late to explore more with numbers with your child. Day-to-day activities often provide the best opportunities to develop math skills and concepts at an early age like counting and recognising numbers.

The importance of Math for children

Learning math could be similar to building a pyramid, you would need a good foundation to build the perfect shape. Mathematics is not just about complicated algorithms and complex calculations. The reason why people find math problems difficult or complex is because their foundation isn’t as strong and they don’t receive proper mathematics education during their childhood, and miss out on the opportunity to build a strong base.

Lack of math knowledge has chances of affecting cognitive development of the children. Children who’ve acquired strong mathematics education can make better sense of life and establish cause-and-effect relationships with greater ease in their adult life.The fact that these crucial life skills directly increase in proportion to one’s mathematical skills makes it clear that developing math skills in early childhood will have a direct effect on one’s future success.It helps us understand the world a little better and helps us procure mental discipline. Math also encourages logical reasoning, creative and critical thinking, problem-solving, abstract or spatial thinking and effective communication skills.

This indicates that parents have a big role to play when it comes to their child’s mathematical and future potential. Math, however, isn’t the most popular or favorite subject for many kids at school and sometimes, it can prove to be a little tricky. Let’s dive into some easy ways to encourage your child to progress in math and all from the comfort of your own home.

How to make maths fun for your toddler?

Children are always curious and intrigued about everything and starting early to pique their interest in maths seems like the best opportunity to ensure they enjoy maths and have fun with activities around it.

We’ve put together a collection of activities that will build that foundation for kids to enjoy math.

Counting and Playing with toys:  Make it interactive and count toys with your children.

Count the Fish: This fish counting activity for preschool builds simple math skills and can be done in a variety of ways. 

Roll and Dot the Number: This is a common game for kids to identify numbers 1-6. You can get different types of dice to teach them numbers.

Race to Fill the Cup: Any small items and a cup work fine with this game. The first person to fill the cup wins! 

Counting and Measuring with Lego: I love how easy this is! If you have some lego blocks at home, you can play with your child to count the lego bricks and build houses. This also helps enhancing motor skills.

Coins in a Jar: You can keep adding coins in a jar and keep practicing counting with your child.

Domino Line Up: Grab some dominoes and work on counting with 1:1 correspondence, number recognition, and more! 

Count the Drops: Build fine motor skills while squeezing liquid on to the dots – and count along the way! 

We hope this blog helps in learning the importance of math and different activities to build their foundation. You can also sign up for a free demo session of our ‘Ready for School’ Nursery Programme to build math, communication and social skills of your child.