Counting up to 10 [antikvár]

Notes for parents It is best to use this book when both you and your child are in the right mood to enjoy it and try not to do too much at one time. Learning to count is a gradual process and short, frequent sessions perhaps followed by other counting activities will help your child most. It is a good idea to use the first pages of the book to make sure that your child is fully confident with counting up to five before going on to the pages which deal with higher numbers. When you reach the pages where nine or ten objects are randomly arranged you may even find you have to concentrate harder yourself to count them correctly, and so will be able to appreciate the difficulties a young child could have. Pens and pencils You will need a set of felt pens or crayons for the colouring activities in this book. These could also be used for the drawing and writing activities, though you may prefer to choose a pencil for these. Whatever you choose, make sure, before you start, that your child is holding it correctly. It is easy to develop bad writing habits with the wrong grip. Pens and pencils should be held between the thumb and first two fingers, about 2cm from the point, and not gripped too tightly. Introducing zero It can be surprisingly hard for young children who have been learning to associate each number with an object to grasp that there is also a number for nothing. It is a good idea to demonstrate zero by removing objects one by one until you have "no objects" left, and emphasise that this is what zero means. The importance of sets Sets are introduced early in this book and there are several pages of set-based activities. It is important for children to realize that different arrangements and varieties of objects may be represented by the same number. To help with this, you could collect small objects, such as buttons, pebbles, shells or counters and ask your child to help sort them into sets. The separate sets could then be enclosed by pieces of string or thread. Objects in one set could be matched to those in another by joining them with drinking straws as shown below. Set of pebbles Set of shells This operation is called "mapping" and when the sets are of equal size is also referred to as "one-to-one correspondence". Whole sets of the same number could also be joined with straws or pieces of string. The idea of sets is fundamental to much basic maths; for instance, putting objects into equal sized sets and then counting the sets leads on to multiplication. Getting the most out of the book There are more counting opportunities in this book than those specifically mentioned. Make the most of these. Each page offers many opportunities for talking about numbers and extending your child's understanding of them. On some pages, for instance, the child is asked to colour a specific number of objects from a group. You can use this activity to help develop early ideas of addition and subtraction by asking such questions as how many objects are there altogether, how many have been coloured and how many are left.