By the beginning of their fourth year, nearly all children know some number words, and most can verbally count up to ten. Many children can also use one-to-one correspondence to count objects. This means that when your child is counting how many crackers he has, he knows to assign one and only one number to each cracker. He also knows that the last number he uses represents the total amount of objects that he’s counted. Of course, this all seems obvious to us as adults, but these are actually major accomplishments in the foundations of early math!

(Playful Bee is launching our new DIY Preschool from Birth program! Click here to enroll.)

Play Tips:

How can you support your child’s development of this Counting and One-to-One Correspondence skill at this age? It’s as easy as 1-2-3.

1. Count throughout the day. As you go through your day, try to find ways to work counting into your activities. For example, ask your child how many toys are in the bathtub or how many books you’ve picked out for story time. You could even ask your child to make a picture of your house, illustrating how many doors he can count, how many windows, how many stairs, how many pillows, how many sinks, etc.
2. Read lots of counting books. Books often have a fun rhyme or fun pictures that will help reinforce the sequence of numbers in your child’s head. Some classic examples of counting books include:

• Ten Apples up on Top!, by Dr. Seuss
• 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo, by Eric Carle
• Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3, by Bill Martin, Jr. and Michael Sampson

3. Make a simple counting game. You can find lots of counting games on the internet, but here is a simple favorite. Put muffin cups in a muffin pan, labeling them 1-12 (or however many you’d like to use). Give your child the exact number of small objects (e.g. beans, buttons, mini marshmallows) he needs to complete the task, and let him fill the cups. If he has any leftover at the end, you know that one of you has counted wrong!
4. Play with pipe cleaners. Here is another simple counting game. Fold a blank sticker over one end of each of ten pipe cleaners (or however many you’d like to use), and label them 1-10. Supply your child with small beads (again, as many as he needs to complete the task), and let him work to put the correct number of beads on each pipe cleaner. This will also engage his fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and artistic side, as he makes pleasing patterns with the beads.

(Playful Bee is launching our new DIY Preschool from Birth program! Click here to enroll.)

Developmental Milestones:

Has your baby achieved the following Counting and One-to-One Correspondence developmental milestones yet? If yes, check off all the skill(s) he has already mastered to date using Playful Bee’s developmental milestones tracker. It’s absolutely FREE and easy to use, just click HERE!

• Counts 10+ objects using one-to-one correspondence.

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Playful Bee

Education Team at Playful Bee

Playful Bee is an e-Preschool that delivers inquiry-based preschool learning from the classroom to your home. Our preschool curriculum was created by our talented team of rock star teachers. With years of hands-on preschool and Kindergarten teaching experience, they've developed a high-quality preschool experience that is convenient-to-use and easy-to-teach by you, grandparents, or your nanny at home.

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