Practice counting this summer

This summer is a great time to keep your child's counting skills strong. There are so many fun ways to do this. First, make it meaningful to your child. Count the things he or she loves. This could be match box cars, legos, figurines, stuffed animals, books and so on. The bigger the collection, the better.

Here is an example of one simple activity: Start by asking your child, "I wonder how many stuffed animals you have?" Both of you can make a guess. Write the guesses down so you can see who was closest to the correct answer. Have your child collect all the stuffed animals and count. Is your child counting one-by-one? Can he or she put the animals in groups of ten to make counting easier? What is the final answer? Who was closer? Now, ask your child to sort the animals into groups. How many bears? How many cats? Do you have more bears or cats?

Take advantage of those big piles of stuffed animals! Lots of great math everywhere we look.