Two year old math activities

Learning to count. It is better to start studying mathematics not with abstract numbers, but with things understandable to the kid. Count everything around: steps, steps, fingers, toys). Teach your child to show his age on his fingers.

Putting puzzles together. This is a difficult task, so you can't do without the help of an adult. Choose pictures from 2-6 elements. Of the two paths “difficult puzzle - mom help” and “easy puzzle, but on your own” - prefer the second. nine0003

Learning to compare. Studying the concept of "a lot-little", lay out two piles of buttons - the child must determine which is more and which is less.

Speaking

Reading . Take a book by age, with large print and pictures. Discuss the plot of the story with your child as you read. Ask questions, praise for the correct answers, give hints if the baby is having a hard time.

Puppet theater . Not only special dolls are suitable for him, but also toys familiar to the baby. The first performance is staged by an adult, showing an example, then we connect the child. Entrust him with the main role or tasks of the director. nine0003

Finish the sentence game . Start saying the phrase, and the baby will finish it. You can illustrate situations from life: “There is a red one here ...”, “This girl is dressed in ...”.

Expanding vocabulary . A two-year-old understands more words than he can pronounce. Speak with him all the events of the day, even “what you ate”, “whom you played with”. This lesson improves pronunciation, teaches the baby to share his thoughts with his family.

Caution

Find item . Any place will do: in nature, on the street, in line at the clinic, at home. Ask the child to show a white car on the road, find the character in the picture. The main thing is to be interested!

Find the common feature . Arrange items according to a common feature, for example, with the same pattern, color, shape. It is important that the objects are diverse: a mitten, a saucer, a picture in a book.

We build according to the drawing . There are a lot of games with drawings for this. Buy an age-appropriate set (2-6 pieces) and let your little one build a tower or house on their own. nine0005

General and fine motor skills

Modeling . Choose high-quality plasticine of different colors, which can also be successfully memorized in the game.

Application . This case will not only strengthen the fingers, but also deepen creative thinking.

Dressing and undressing . Let the baby dress up the toy on their own or get ready for a walk.

Water games . It is most convenient to play with plastic children's utensils. Let your child play around in the water with the toy teapot and cups. nine0003

Hand washing . Teach your child to wash their hands without the help of an adult, after a walk and before eating. At the same time, he will master the skills of hygiene.

Angler game . Need balls or small toys. Throw them into the water (most convenient when bathing) and invite your baby to catch them with a spoon.

Intellectual ability

Music . Teach your baby and yourself to the classics, using them as a background while reading fairy tales and creative activities. Praise for wanting to dance. nine0003

Drawing . A two-year-old is already drawing quite consciously, trying to draw herself, her family, using circles, lines, squares. He learns to paint over the drawing without going beyond the contours. Draw together! Let the baby finish drawing your schemes of the sun or the animal himself.

Role play . Encourage your child's initiative in composing a play scenario with dolls or real people. Plots can be taken from life: go to the store while at home, send the doll to the doctor, school or kindergarten. It is important that the baby is the main one in the game. nine0005

Getting to know the world around us

Learning about animals . We talk about animals, we name parts of their body, cubs, what they eat and where they live. We tell you what role an animal or bird plays in nature, whether it matters to a person.

Watching nature . It is important to explain how rain, snow and other weather phenomena occur.

Studying the flora of the area . On the street, pay the child's attention to the plants, tell them what they are called. nine0003

Learn fruits and vegetables . Learn the names of familiar foods with your baby. Check in everyday life by offering to take an apple or a banana from a plate.

Distinguishing materials . Tell us what the objects around us are made of. They are wooden, metal, paper.

Working with a child is not difficult! Some games can be used even while walking, others require preparation. However, such exercises will become a powerful basis for the further development of the baby. He will be better aware of the world and strive for new knowledge. nine0005

Mathematics for the little ones

Alas, all early development is usually reduced to early learning to count and read. And this is just contraindicated for such crumbs, their brain is not yet physiologically ready for such manipulations. However, there is another math.

When we talk about mathematics for kids, we mean, rather, familiarity with the main logical concepts: one and many, more-less, above-below, set, etc. It is obvious that these concepts are needed not only for the development of mathematical thinking. They generally help to structure the accumulated information, but for this the baby needs time. So please don't rush! nine0003

Some teachers insist that logic classes (as well as other sciences for toddlers, by the way) should take place in a special place and at a special time specially allotted for “lessons”. Perhaps for older preschoolers who are preparing for their first meeting with the school, this is relevant: a special place and time allow you to tune in to the working mood, get together. But when it comes to toddlers from one to three years old, I insist that "lessons" are unacceptable. All information about the logical structure of the world, about relationships, about causes and effects can be learned literally "in between times, on the go." nine0003

The principle of mastering the material should be as follows: first, contrasting concepts (one - many, high - low, large - small), and then we consider in more detail what is "in the middle", we learn to compare quantity, height, size.

What is a heap?

Do you remember how in a wonderful cartoon about a monkey, a baby elephant and a boa constrictor, the baby elephant asks his friends:

– How many nuts do you need to make a pile?

(Let's note in brackets that the baby elephant, by the way, raises an old philosophical problem, first formulated by the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno - at what point does quantity turn into quality, and one grain of sand will turn "non-heap" into "heap"). nine0003

When the baby understands these concepts well, you can go to definition "several" . Two or three things is a lot.

Please note that your words must be accompanied by actions with real objects, not pictures. Do not hesitate, there will come times when your little one will clearly show in the picture where there is one berry, where there are many, and where there are several. But for now, pictures are just a symbol for him. Dealing with them is much more difficult than with real objects that you can pick up.

Same, less, more

For those parents who think that this is too easy, I inform you that there are such problems even in math textbooks for the first grade. We by no means set ourselves the task of going through the school curriculum in tender infancy, but now we would like to outline the basic logical concepts with which the baby will become more and more familiar as he grows up. nine0003

Psychologists have established that we can determine the number of objects up to five “by eye”, without counting; this skill is, as it were, “embedded” in our brain. Let's use this ability of our own body. Let's not count with maniacal persistence everything that comes our way, but just note that there are three apples on the plate, you and I have two legs and two arms, the cat has as many as four paws . And in the hallway are for some reason five slippers: two of my mother's, two of my daughter's and one of my father's (on the second, apparently, the animals once again set off to travel). Actually, the account was invented in order not to repeat: fungus, fungus and fungus, but immediately say “ three fungi”. At some point, the baby himself will name the number of items.

Especially if you ask him how many sweets to give him: one, two or four at once.

Classification

How many didactic games have been invented in order to “find the extra”, “make pairs”, “pick up analogies”! What is there just not there: either birds among giraffes, then squares among circles, then cornflowers among cacti. nine0003

But when a two-year-old baby starts sorting paper cards with unknown animals, there is something… unnatural in it.

And in this regard, I really like the idea of ​​Waldorf teachers to classify objects, so to speak, according to the principle of common sense. When all the toys of the baby fall into one box (even if it is transparent), there is a feeling of chaos. It is better if a special closet or bookcase is allocated for toys, and for each type of toys - its own box or basket. Where is the best place to store cubes? They have smooth edges, they can be neatly laid in a box. Other wooden building material will also go there. nine0003

And here are various baskets for shells, cones, chestnuts... You don't even have to explain anything to the baby, don't announce loudly: "Here we put only dishes, and here - only pebbles!". Just collect your treasures with your baby every day after playing. And he will definitely notice that a cone that accidentally fell into a basket of shells is superfluous here. And he himself will put it where it is necessary, and will not shove it with his foot under the bed.

There is a deep practical meaning in such classifications: order is put in place, the room becomes cozy, and at the right moment you can always find exactly what you need. nine0003

Everything is known in comparison

Walking down the street with your child, doing household chores, playing ordinary role-playing games, pay attention to the signs of objects. This house is high and that one is low. Here the road is wide, look: mother, Dasha and the carriage fit side by side, but here it is narrow, you can only go in single file. Bring the big doll, please. No, this is a small one, but now we need a big one, she will be a mother doll.

It is in such everyday situations that a child learns to compare the size and shape of objects. nine0003

And the tale of the three bears is just made for this! Just pay attention to an important point: do not enter three concepts at the same time - large, medium and small. At first there should be only two objects for comparison - a large and a small one. And only then show the baby that there is also an intermediate option, not large and not small, but medium. If this idea is to your liking, you can distribute anything in size. Who said that you need to limit yourself to only plates, spoons, chairs and beds? Let the bears have different sizes of pillows, blankets, books, hats, etc. nine0003

Serialization

Serialization is another logical operation. It consists in distributing objects by size: from smallest to largest. The baby has already received the first experience of seriation, distributing numerous household items among the bear family.

After this, the task can be somewhat more complicated. Matryoshka dolls are perfect for serialization. To get started, just open the largest matryoshka doll and show the baby its secret. This moment can be very joyful, because in each nesting doll there is a new surprise! When all the wooden dolls get to know the baby, try to line them up according to their height. Consider how they look, pay attention to which nesting dolls are higher or lower than their sisters. They can also play hide and seek! Give the baby the opportunity to check for himself which nesting doll can hide inside his sister, and which cannot. nine0003

Subsequently, the child will arrange nesting dolls according to their height.

It is very easy to check if the row is lined up correctly. To do this, you just need to collect all the nesting dolls in turn again. If some did not fit in her older sister, then there was a mistake. Shall we try again? During such a game, the eye, fine motor skills are trained, spatial thinking develops.

For nesting dolls of different sizes, just like for bears, you can choose handkerchiefs (it's great if they match the matryoshka clothes in tone, this is not only an education in artistic taste, but also another logical operation). You can give them sticks, circles or cubes of various sizes (let the child decide for himself what it looks like: bars of soap to wash his hands, or felt-tip pens for drawing). nine0003

And then you can choose blankets for sisters of different sizes from prepared scraps of fabric.

Believe me, such simple, at first glance, skills mean a lot for the development of the baby! The famous French psychologist Jean Piaget believed that the level of classification and seriation is the main indicator of the intellectual development of a child.

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