Ready for school: Fun with Counting & Math Concepts

Parents, you can make a huge difference in helping your young child get ready for school. This column features fun activities you can do at home. Together we build school success!

Fun with Counting & Math Concepts

Young children learn best when their projects involve familiar or practical everyday items and events.
You can have fun with the following activities:
• Ask your child to guess how many steps it takes to get from the couch to the television or telephone, front door to the sidewalk, bathroom to their bedroom, or, in a grocery store, from the dairy aisle to the bakery section
- Count to find out how many steps it took.
- Compare the number guessed to the actual number taken.

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• To help your child learn about measurement, compare amounts of food such as crackers, cookies, chips, candy, pizza. Compare between your child and yourself, and other family members.
- Ask: Did everyone get the same? If not, who got more or the most? Who got less, or the least?

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• Look for opportunities to talk about how your child's clothes fit.
- Ask: Are the clothes too big? Too little? Just right?

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• To help your child learn about patterns, and how number ideas can be related, make a pattern or sequence with snack foods, such as: animal crackers, raisins, M&Ms
- Make a pattern with blocks such as square, triangle, square. Big, little, big.
- Ask your child to help with cooking. Ask them to get things like 5 potatoes and 2 eggs.

Information in this column is adapted from "Getting Kids Ready for Kindergarten" published by Early Childhood & Family Services. It's available online at the following url: www.mpls.k12.mn.us/departments/tis (Click on "School Readiness")

ECFE is Early Childhood Family Education, a program within Minneapolis Public Schools. Parents may preregister for spring classes by Feb. 6, or register in person or by phone throughout February. For more information find ECFE online at: www.mpls.k12.mn.us/ecfe or call 612-668-3927.