How to teach child numbers

5 Tips on How to Teach Numbers to Kids in Kindergarten

One of the first lessons we learn as kids is how to count numbers. Opening the door to mathematics, learning numbers is a crucial skill to master in the earliest years of education.

When teaching numbers, many strategies can help kids feel confident in counting independently. It’s not only important to establish the ability to count. Building an understanding of the numbers will help kids develop math skills in the future. Teaching numbers doesn’t have to be a daunting task. With a patient approach and an engaging lesson plan, you will soon have your kids excited to count!  

When Should Kids Start to Learn Numbers?

Children are exposed to numbers at the very beginning of their lives, whether that be with pattern recognition or the ability to discern quantity amounts. That being said, children can begin learning their numbers as early as preschool. Since math is all around us every day, there are many opportunities to encourage number retention among kids who are not confident with their numbers. 

5 Tips for Teaching Numbers

At Learning Without Tears, we know that there are numerous strategies for teaching numbers to young children. We believe that with a proper plan in place, every child can feel confident about their knowledge of numbers. Consider Learning Without Tears’ top five tips for teaching numbers to set your little ones up for success in mathematics.  

1. Begin with Number Formation

There are only ten characters that you need to teach or remediate (0-9). Think about that, just 10.  

Many of our children have names with more than 10 characters, especially when you consider writing their first and last name. It is much easier to teach ten numbers instead of 26 lowercase letters and 26 uppercase or capital letters. Also, numbers do not come in lowercase and uppercase. They are just one size. This makes teaching numbers for the first time or remediating numbers very easy as they are all made of the same size. 

Click here to download a free copy of our Number Formation Chart.  

2. Start at the Top with Numbers

So many children struggle with where to start letters or numbers when they are writing. They generally form letters and numbers inconsistently, sometimes starting at the top, the next time starting at the bottom, and the next time maybe starting in the middle. The results of these inconsistent start patterns and habits are usually letters or numbers that are poorly formed and difficult to recognize or to read. 

All numbers start at the top. This is easy to remember. With the Handwriting Without Tears approach, we have a song, “Where Do You Start Your Letters.” Well, one of the verses of that song goes, “Where do you start your numbers? At the top!” Yes! All numbers start at the top. 

If you are not familiar with our song, you can find it on our albums, our workbooks, on our website, and as part of our Interactive Teaching Tools. The kids really love this song. We have a short version and a longer version that really gets the kids moving as they learn about start, top, and bottom. The song even teaches them how to “shake it in the middle,” which is so much fun for little kids. Please be sure to check it out. You will love this song, too! 

3. Create Number Stories for Sequence

Consider how numbers are actually formed during the writing process. We refer to this as start and sequence. We now know that all numbers start at the top. But what happens next? We call this sequence. 

To help young children learn to write numbers, we have developed what we call Number Stories for each one. These are clever ways to help our young children remember the correct way to form their numbers. We use reference words about where the number will start, followed by sequence reference words to build the automaticity of forming the number. 

These stories are found in our student and teacher books, on our website, and as a part of our Interactive Teaching Tools. Our number formation pages are free and can be found on our website. We even have them in Spanish! 

4. Use Friendly Terminology

At Learning Without Tears, we use the terms Big Line, Little Line, Big Curve, and Little Curve. All of the numbers can be made with these four basic strokes or shapes. 

For our younger children, we build numbers using our Handwriting Without Tears Wood Pieces. As they progress and learn to hold a writing tool, we use small chalkboards and chalk to teach proper number formation. Then we introduce small crayons and Gray Blocks to provide a visual guideline for not only the formation of the number but for size and placement as well. Lastly, they will use a pencil and the Gray Blocks to produce numbers, eventually transitioning to a single baseline in their workbooks or on paper.  

We even have an app for the iPad called Wet-Dry-Try to help teach, practice, and eventually master number formation. This is a great way to incorporate technology and add additional multisensory techniques to enhance learning opportunities for children. The Wet Dry Try app can also be used with capital and lowercase letters.

Check it out! Your children will really enjoy using this tool. 

5. Teach Number Placement

The placement of numbers on paper is also something we need to teach and address during our summer number lessons. I have already mentioned some of our techniques and strategies previously. 

All numbers are to be correctly placed on a single baseline. With young writers, we use the Slate Chalkboard to provide a strong visual and tactile representation of the baseline. This is also incorporated into the Wet-Dry-Try app for iPads. 

When the children transition into a student workbook, they have a visual of the Gray Block to guide placement. The next step is to place the numbers, starting at the top, onto a single baseline. Eventually, on math papers, the student will not have a line to place numbers on. At this level, they will “see” the line in their minds and place the numbers on it. This takes a while and a great deal of practice for children to be able to do this. Until then, use chalkboards, tablets, Gray Blocks, and lines to teach and remediate the placement of numbers. 

Learning Without Tears Can Help Teach Numbers!

Our goal at Learning Without Tears is to help provide trustworthy academic resources and products to parents and teachers to help prepare children for growth and success. We know that every child can be taught their numbers, but we want to make teaching numbers an engaging and worthwhile experience. As one of the first building blocks for mathematics and future learning, teaching numbers is a lesson that should be approached with references and support that we at Learning Without Tears are more than happy to provide.  

If you’re curious about the best way to learn how to teach numbers, Learning Without Tears has everything you need. We provide an extensive collection of educational products and resources that will have your child counting in no time. With a diverse selection of items to help students of all learning types, we’re confident that every child can benefit from the enriching teaching tools offered at Learning Without Tears. Explore our selection of free resources today to learn more! 

How To Teach Your Toddler Numbers (9 SIMPLE STRATEGIES)

Introducing numbers at an early age will set your kids up with a great start in math.

But recognizing numbers is hard for a toddler because some numbers look similar. For example, many children have trouble telling the difference between 6 & 9 and 1 & 7.

So how can you teach your toddler to recognize the differences between numbers 1-10?

Take a look at my 9 simple strategies to help you on your journey of teaching your child about the numbers!

Strategy #1. Play With Number Toys

It’s a proven fact; kids learn best when they play!  Hands-on learning is by far the best way for kids to learn their numbers because they can manipulate an object themselves.

But you can’t just count out loud to your toddler and expect them to recognize numbers. Playing with toys allows them to see, touch, and help them understand what each number means.

Here are some of the BEST learning toys I’ve come across to help you along your journey in teaching your toddler!

Most of these toys don’t say the numbers out loud, so your involvement in playing with these toys is crucial for them to learn!

A. Montessori Wood Block Puzzle Set

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This toy is my personal favorite for older toddlers and preschoolers. It has numbers and rings to count for each number so that it can be used for several years!

B.

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This is my son working on this puzzle! It is a little bit simpler, which is excellent for younger toddlers! Under each number, there are objects to count.

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Bath time is a fabulous opportunity to review numbers! Toddlers love sticking the numbers on the bath walls. When children get older, you can spell sight words with these letters too!

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Does your toddler love building or playing with trains? Have fun working together to build this number train! This toy helps toddlers recognize numbers and count in order 1-9.

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This is a great toy to take along with you if your going to a restaurant or going to someone else’s house. It is a number puzzle, and there are colored cookies(10) that you can count.

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Since I’m a physical education teacher, I love getting my kids up and moving, so this toy is one of my favorites! This interactive learning mat asks children to do different locomotor movements to each number, animal or musical instrument.

Need activities to go along with some of the number toys you have?

Take a look at my 23 SIMPLE NUMBER RECOGNITION ACTIVITIES article to find exciting activities to do with your kids to help them learn numbers. 

Strategy #2.

Counting out loud daily is imperative because it’s a different skill than just learning to recognize what a number looks like.

2-year-olds will start by recognizing the numbers, and then they will gradually begin to understand what each number means.

When toddlers can count how many objects are given to them, they understand what that number means. For example, if you give your child 4 cheerios, they can count to 4, and they recognize the number 4 when they see it, they understand what the number 4 means.

The great thing about this strategy is that you can count anything that you have laying around the house!

Does your child like cars? Set up a race track and count how many cars are in the race!

Do they like coloring? Get out their favorite coloring book and count how many markers or crayons they are using.

Does your 2-year-old like to play dress-up? Separate the clothes and the accessories into piles and count how many of each thing they have to choose from!

The possibilities are endless!

Strategy #3.

There are so many fantastic books to help teach toddlers numbers. I have listed a few books below that we own that look specifically at numbers 1-10. Each of these books engages children differently.

Even if your toddler doesn’t like to sit and read stories, these books will entertain them because they are interactive.

While you are reading, point out each number to your child, count with them, and talk about the pictures.  Make sure to ask your toddler questions to check for understanding (I have some examples on how to do this in the next section!) 

A. Simple First Words Let’s Say Our Numbers

Your child can learn their numbers and how to count quickly by adding this book to your collection! They can learn how to match by looking at a picture and pressing the same number that’s on the page.

B. Ten Little Ladybugs

This book is one of my children’s favorite books! Both kiddos loved counting the ladybugs on each page!

C. Baby Touch and Feel Numbers

2-year-olds LOVE to play with sensory toys. This book has a touch and feel feature that toddlers will enjoy! It helps with number identification and counting!

D. Goodnight Numbers

Do you remember Winnie from The Wonder Years? Danica McKellar is the author of Goodnight Numbers.

This book focuses on how numbers and counting can be a part of everyday life!

Strategy #4. Check For Understanding

You will never know how much your toddler is taking in until you start asking them questions.

I think you’ll be surprised. I stated earlier that toddlers are like little sponges. They are listening to everything your saying.

Checking for understanding will open your eyes to see what your toddler has learned from you. Take a look at this video below to see an example of one way I check for understanding for number recognition.

*The toy featured above is a Crayola My First TouchPad. It is an excellent way to check for understanding because you can mix the numbers up to see if they are grasping the information.*

One thing you may have noticed by watching the video is that I do my check quickly. My son is 18 months old, and as you can imagine, his attention span is not very long. You see at the end of the video; he is checked out. 🙂

When toddlers start not to be interested in your questions anymore, don’t push it.  Try again later.

Here’s an example of when I knew it was time to start asking questions.

My son LOVES puzzles. Once he was attempting to put the pieces of the puzzles into a spot, I started telling him what each number was when he picked them up. I would guide him on where each number should go.

Eventually, he started putting the numbers in the correct spot on his own. Once he was able to do that, I began to check for understanding, “Where is the 2?” or “Show me the 5.”

You can start checking for understanding at any time. It’s never too early to start asking your toddler questions.

Another thing to note when checking for understanding is to use different toys or objects. You don’t want your toddler to memorize one toy because they may just be going off memory instead of knowing the numbers.

Strategy #5. Get Active

Does your toddler like to relax and sit around all day? NO. I’ve NEVER heard any parent say that. 

Toddlers are busy, and they want to move around and explore this fantastic world!

I am a physical education teacher, and I’m very passionate about my children staying active. I enjoy incorporating some learning activities while we are playing games.

Here are some examples of how you can keep your kids active and learning at the same time! 

• Have your toddler dribble the basketball as many times as they can while you count, try to have them beat their score by doing this several times in a row. By doing this activity, your 2-year-old will be working on the gross motor skill of dribbling.

• Blow up a balloon and have your toddler try to keep it up in the air by batting or kicking it. Count how many times they can do so before it hits the floor. This activity is great for eye-hand coordination and gross motor skills. 

• Practice locomotor skills by writing the numbers 1-10 with sidewalk chalk outside and ask the child to jump, skip, leap, hop, gallop, run, or side slide to a specific number.

Want to see how this is done? Check out this video of my daughter, who is in preschool doing this activity! 

There are so many benefits that your children will get from being physically active. By completing some of these activities, they will increase their physical health, learn physical skills, and be learning their numbers at the same time!

Who remembers that teacher from high school that talked straight from their notes without any questions or fun activities? 

I sure do!! Think about that when you are teaching your toddlers. They will get bored just like you did; a variety of learning games will keep them eager to learn.

Toddlers will be excited to create something new and spend time with you as well. It’s a win, win! Below are some examples of crafts that we have done that were successful

A. POM POMS!

We sorted these pom poms by color and counted how many of each that we had. Pom Poms are so great for counting, sorting, learning colors, and creating art projects!

B. Get their hands dirty!

My daughter and son both made aquariums with Crayola Kids Paint and Do-A-Dot Painters and markers! We counted how many tentacles the octopus and jellyfish have and how many fish and turtles there were in their creations!

C. Do-A-Dot Markers

This painting project was a little less messy. Q-tips, do-a-dot painting, and cotton ball painting are much cleaner ways to do a project.

My son has a blast working with this dot-a-dot number painting activity. I had to help him quite a bit, but it kept his interest for an extended period of time!

7. Listen To Number Songs

Let’s face it; kids love watching videos.

Youtube can be such an excellent resource for learning videos and songs.

In my opinion, it’s BEST to use in moderation and provides the child with another way of learning. Most children are entertained by watching videos, and it could help them recognize numbers with catchy lyrics, animations, and sounds.

We are BIG Disney fans. This video has been a hit with my toddler and even my preschooler! 

Other Youtube learning resources: Bob the Train, Super Simple Songs, and Little Baby Bum 

DO NOT rely on videos being the only source that the child gets for learning anything.

These videos are great to put on if you have to clean up after lunch, or you have to put the groceries away. It keeps engaged and learning, while you have some time to get done what you need to!

My recommendation is to have the child watch no more than 20 minutes once a day.

Strategy #8. Sing songs

Not a huge fan of screen time?

I get it. You don’t have to rely on videos to help teach toddlers; you can sing the songs yourself! Here are some examples of songs that you can sing to work on counting.

• Ten in the Bed Nursery Rhyme

Put up all ten of your fingers or have your toddler put up their fingers. Start to sing “there were 10 in the bed, and the little one said roll over, rollover, and they all rolled over, and one fell out”(put one finger down). You could continue until you had no fingers left!

• 5 Little Ducks

This is a perfect song to sing at bath time! When your toddler is taking a bath, bring out some rubber ducks if you have them. Sing the lyrics to this song and take away a duck throughout the song and bring them all back in the tub at the end!

• 5 Little Monkeys 

The beautiful thing about this nursery rhyme is you can get creative with it. You don’t have to use the word monkeys; you can change it to whatever you want! We don’t have 5 toy monkeys; if you do, great use them! If you don’t, you can use dolls, trains, stuffed animals, etc. Your toddler will LOVE listening to you sing this song and watching their favorite toys fall off the bed.

I was planning on making a video example for this myself, but my daughter did this out of the blue, and it was too perfect!!

Strategy #9.

Not every child learns at the same rate.

You may have one child who learned their numbers by 18 months, and the other child isn’t interested in learning quite yet, and they are 24 months. THAT IS OKAY!

The important thing is that you keep repeating the information to them. Don’t give up on them!

If you keep counting to them and explain what each number is when they see it, they will catch on. Be patient and stay confident in your child!

Teaching your toddler about numbers is a fun but challenging adventure!

It’s important to start slow, play with number toys they can manipulate and repeat numbers daily.  Try to mix up the activities that you do with them to keep them engaged and excited to learn!

I would love to help in your journey teaching your toddler numbers (1-10). Whether you need some creative ideas or you need more helpful suggestions, please leave a comment below.

If you have any great ideas that you would like to share as well on what helped you teach numbers to a toddler, please share them with us!

How to teach a child numbers: learning to count

How to teach a child numbers: recognize them, correlate them with the number of objects? After all, in ordinary life you often have to divide sweets or a whole pie equally into parts, add and subtract - knowledge of numbers and counting skills will not interfere here (so as not to deprive yourself, your loved one). Numbers are the world of adults, children understand better when everything is visual and preferably tasty :)) Learning to count - while playing!

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Remembering numbers should be conscious, not mechanical. The composition of the number and counting within the first ten is the basis of the basics. Therefore, dear parents, we turn on the imagination and come up with fun games and simple educational aids for mental counting.

So, the first thing a baby should master is the recognition of numbers. To teach a child numbers, use sight, hearing, touch, preferably all at once - this is more effective.

Numbers live in our house: how to teach a child to count

How to make friends with numbers? You need to get to know them. Try to study 1-3 numbers every week. Come up with all kinds of tasks so that the child learns to recognize them, correlate them with the number of objects, write.

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Numbers are everywhere! Make cards with the image of numbers and hang them around the house at the level of the child's eyes.

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Whenever possible, focus on them, ask them to bring as much as it says on the card, give, take, eat, count, and so on. The kid must learn to correlate the visual image of a number with its quantitative value.

Number cards can be sewn from felt. It will be possible not to be afraid that the baby will tear or crush the cardboard pictures.

And here is an example of loto, when you can not only learn to count, but also memorize colors.

While mom is in the kitchen, the baby can play with cereals, and at the same time get to know the numbers better.

Collect beautiful leaves while walking and make cards with your child. Memorize the names of trees - and learn to count!

Natural materials will be great helpers in learning to count.

How to teach a child to numbers at 4 years old

Children from three to five can already recognize numbers and master sequential counting. The main thing is not to miss the moment and use the child's interest in mathematics.

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Make cards with funny numbers and ask your child to put them on the table in the correct order.

Clothespin games are fun. Attach a number plate to each clothespin and let your child learn to match the number with the number of dots.

If you want to raise a genius, learn English along with Russian. All tasks can be performed by analogy.

It is not necessary to chase after purchased games, you can do many things with your own hands - this will not make them less useful and developing.

Your little one will surely enjoy gluing buttons on plasticine or counting apples on a tree using a special ruler and window.

There are many methods by which you can teach a child to memorize numbers and count. And it is not at all necessary to rely on experienced teachers and expensive developmental aids. Every mother at home can make sure that the baby makes friends with the numbers in the game, with the help of simple materials that are always at hand and that you can make yourself.

Do not forget about various short poems, coloring pages. Do not miss the chance to repeat what you have done on a walk, in a store, on a bus, etc., where there is always something to count, compare, share equally.

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Use numbers in creativity: while drawing, modeling, cutting, playing with the constructor, etc.

the age of the child. With your favorite characters, learning math is fun and interesting!

Dear readers! Share tips on how to teach your child numbers, teach counting, how to make friends with the world of mathematics from an early age.

How to teach a child to count to 10, 20, 100

How to teach a child to count

Many children come to the first grade already with counting skills, so it is important for parents to teach them in advance. Today there are many techniques that make it interesting and fun.

Do not impose learning to count, it should be easy: in the course of daily activities or games. Count familiar objects together, gradually complicating the tasks. For example, he easily visualizes two oranges or four plates, but hardly abstract sets.

When to teach your child to count

Most experts believe that the best time to teach kids to count is 3-5 years. It is at this age that the child begins to be interested in new things and learns to establish patterns between numbers. However, everything is very individual. If the baby is actively exploring the world and is interested in mathematics earlier, you can start learning from the age of 1.5.

What methods to use to teach counting

We have collected proven methods that allow you to do this in a playful way that is interesting for the child.

• Finger counting . The technique helps to understand how to teach a child to count to ten. It will be difficult for a baby to remember all the numbers at once, so you can start with five and focus on the fingers of one hand. Introduce the child to their names, then connect the second hand. You can use finger games when one disappears or two or three fingers meet together.
• Using learning cards and sticks . You can lay them out one by one on the table and name the numbers, then move one part of the sticks to the right and the other to the left and ask how many sticks are in each part.
• Number games . Teaching children to count can take place in a playful way. For example, the role-playing game "shop". You need to choose who will be the seller and who will be the buyer, and assign a currency. Selling or buying sweets and toys, the child will easily remember the numbers up to ten and even up to twenty.
• Montessori method . It's like playing shop. You can give the child different coins, for example, a ruble, two, five, and ask him to calculate the amount or change money.
• Doman technique . The author recommends using cards with red dots for counting. The color will attract the baby's attention.

• Hundred Account Nikolai Zaitsev suggests immediately showing numbers from 0 to 99. So the child will understand how many tens and units each number makes.