Charlie's Number Adventure
Math is a language and way of thinking that we use in almost every aspect of our lives – when shopping, working, cooking and more. The "letters" used in this language are numbers, which are graphic symbols representing quantities (for example: a quantity of balls) or measurements (the height of a tree, weight, age, length etc.), as well as different mathematic symbols, which represent such mathematical operations as addition and subtraction.
Recent studies demonstrate that young children's mathematical capabilities are much higher than was previously thought. Some studies show that babies can count without using number words, and even make simple computation. Apparently, babies perform this without understanding what the numbers mean, but we now know that at the ages of 18 months to three and a half years, children develop a basic understanding of the primary ideas in the concept of numbers.
Babies under the age of one year can differentiate between one and two items, and between three and four items. They can also identify changes in a group of two or three items, when items are added or subtracted.
Towards the age of two, children start counting small quantities. This skill leads to their understanding of the distinct correlation between the name of the number and the counted item – that is, the correlation of one number word with one item. They understand that the last number in the count represents the total number of items, and that the order in which they were counted, or the items' type, is irrelevant. For example, in a group consisting of a ball, a cube and a doll, there are 3 items, the same as with a group of 3 balls. The order in which we count the items is irrelevant, and we can choose each time a different item with which to start our count. But it is important that we count each item only once. Before reaching school age, children develop many skills and informal knowledge in math, sometimes surprising in their complexity and cleverness, and start using mathematical concepts in everyday life.
Participation in pleasurable activities involving mathematical thinking, numbers and quantities from an early age has been established as crucial for the development of a positive attitude towards mathematics at school age – a subject which many children do not like and have difficulties with.
The games in the Learning Centre of the BabyTV website deal with the numbers 1 to 10. In these games, children are introduced to the number series and to the concept of the number as expressing a quantity of items in a group, and get to know and count groups of items of different quantities.
Back to Charlie's World of Numbers
