Do you know what pre-number concept your child actually needs to know? Read on to know the essential early maths concepts important for children so that you can make your own pre number concept chart.
- Matching
Teach your child about noticing the same objects around them. You can do this by pointing out the similarity between two water bottles in your refrigerator, or two chocolates or toffees by the same brand.
Once they can easily determine the “same” objects, teach them how to find and match them on paper.
Benefits of Matching:
- Matching strengthens the concept of one-to-one correspondence in children
- It also improves concentration and visual memory
- Children learn to pay attention to details, similarities, and differences by matching
Example:
Draw five different things at one column and the same things in another column but in a shuffled sequence. Ask the child to draw a line to group the same object.
Once they reach perfection in this type of matching, make it more complex for improvement.
- Making Sets & Sorting
When children learn to differentiate, they easily grasp on making sets of objects around them. This way, they also learn to recognize and sort their belongings.
Start by teaching your child to make sets of colors or shapes around them.
Example:
Draw eight different objects on paper keeping at least five of them from the same category. Ask the child to mark the ones that belong to the same group.
As an example, you can draw five things your child sees in the classroom and three random things.
- Picking the Odd One Out
When children learn to sort groups or sets, they can easily analyze the odd one around them and put it away.
If your child knows how to pick the odd object out, he may stay away from putting others’ belongings in his bags.
Example:
Draw four objects belonging to a similar group and one odd object on a piece of paper. Ask the child to mark the one which is odd in the set given by you.
- Counting Group Objects
Counting group objects makes it easy for children to recognize and count numbers.
Example:
Draw five sets of two, four, seven, eight, and nine objects each. Ask the child to count the objects in each block and write it.
- Comparison
Children learn to compare at a very young age. Work on pre number concepts big and small, hot and cold, heavy or light, thick or thin, etc to make it easy for them to compare.
Start by pre number concept big and small and later enhance the activity to more and less, tall and short by keeping minor differences.
Benefits of Comparison:
- It helps children to remember the necessary information
- Highlight differences around them
- Get to know about the difference in numbers and quantities
- Choose their priorities and take better decisions in later life
Examples:
Draw sets of two objects each and ask the child to compare between the big and small, short and tall, more and less, less and least, etc.
Once they get perfect at comparison easily, draw sets of similar objects with minor differences such as spots on a frog’s body.
- Ordering
When children learn to compare, it is time for them to put the objects or numbers in order. This helps them count properly and sort things according to size, length, weight, or height.
Example:
Keep five jars containing one, two, three, four, and five toffees each. Ask the child to arrange the jars in the ascending order of toffees. Later, do this activity with one and two-digit numbers.
- Number Patterns
Once your child is well aware of the pre number concept mentioned above, go ahead and teach number patterns to them.
Example:
Draw a pattern of consecutive squares and circles in a block so that the first shape is square, the second shape is a circle, and the third shape is again a square.
Repeat this pattern at least four times and ask the child to draw the ninth shape.
Matching, making sets, sorting, picking the odd one out, counting, comparing, putting the things in order, and understanding number patterns support a child’s academic learning exceptionally.
Exposure to early number concepts makes them more creative and allows them to solve critical problems by analyzing them.
Source: https://www.cuemath.com/learn/pre-number-concept/
(This article/text/quote/image is shared in good spirit to strengthen the education system.)
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