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Math For Preschoolers *Giveaway*

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This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for stopping by.  The winners are Melanie and Nancy. Congrats!

I never really thought about the fact that math is everywhere.  I paid for groceries at the grocery store…that was math.  I worked on the unit yesterday and calculated drugs for my patients…that was math.  I could site numerous examples of how math is a daily part of our lives.  So it’s important that children learn math at an early age.

My son loves to learn.  While I think every parent would say that about their child, my son literally asks me on a daily basis to help him complete his lessons, or read stories, or sing the alphabet.  He loves to learn (did I already say that?).  And who knew that by teaching him how to count that he’d be learning math.

LeapFrog, a company that designs and develops “innovative, technology-based educational products,” recently released Math Adventure to the Moon (in partnership with Lionsgate Home Entertainment).  I’m particular about the content my son views and decided to watch this before I showed it to him.  The DVD takes children and their parents on “an educational and entertaining mission to the moon where they learn early math skills like counting, sorting and addition with their friends Tad, Lily, and Edison.” Not only does it show children how much math is incorporated into our daily lives, it makes learning math fun.  Apart from the fact that I thought it was a bit too long (I would have liked it under 30 minutes and it’s 38 minutes), I was surprised at how much I liked the DVD.  As I write this, I’m singing the LeapFrog Learning Path Song in my head (it’s very catchy).  Here is a recap of the DVD from the site:

Tad and Lily need the perfect collection of things to take to school for their math assignment. When they finally decide on moon rocks, there’s just one problem–how will they get them? WIth some magical help from their firefly friend, Edison, they board a rocket ship to start their quest. Soon the twins learn that math is everywhere, even in outer space! Watch as they use their skills in counting, sorting, skip counting and recognizing patterns to overcome obstacles, find new friends and make the trip back to Earth!

My son knows how to count (in both English and Spanish) but we haven’t introduced him to sorting, skip counting, or pattern recognition.  I actually think this is a great DVD for parents to begin teachinbg children math.  The video could be a great starting point for expounding on these topics.  My son really enjoyed the video, particularly the characters who are simply adorable.  I like the introduction to math concepts.  Here are some math tips, from the site:

TIP #1:  Math is everywhere!

Next time you’re in a waiting room with your child, scan the room (or the magazines on the tables) for evidence of “math.”  Advise your child to find as much math as possible, and you can give clues if you need to.  Numbers, patterns, shapes, categories, and measuring devices (e.g., ruler, scales), are just a few examples of some of the math you might see all around you!

TIP #2:  Patterns and Codes are All Around Us!

Make patterns using standard household objects.  For example line up repeated objects–sock, stuffed animal, sock, stuffed animal, and so on.   Next, ask your child to continue the pattern to figure out the “secret code.”  You can vary the difficulty of the pattern to suit your child’s ability–banana, banana, pear, banana, banana, pear.  You can also make deliberate errors that your child needs to find–pear, apple, bananna, pear, apple, banana, pear, pear, banana.

TIP #3:  Play the Sorting Game!

Take a deck of cards, and discuss with your child all the ways you can sort the cards.  They can be sorted by color (red versus black), suit (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs), numbers (2’s, 3’s, etc.), royalty versus numbers (jacks, queens, and kings versus the numbers), odd versus even numbers, etc.  Sky is the limit!  You can play the sorting game with many collections of things around the house, such as socks and building  blocks.

TIP #4:  Make it a game night!

Playing number-related, age-appropriate board games, such as Chutes and Ladders, can help support many math-related skills.  For an important twist, help your child practice saying each number he or she lands on and passes by with each roll of the dice. For example, if your child is on 23 and rolls a four, help him or her say “24, 25, 26, 27” instead of “1, 2, 3, 4.”  This way, your child can learn about order and magnitude (i.e., how large or small a number is in relation to other numbers).


TIP #5:  Count-down for Launch! (My son LOVES doing this!)

You and Your Kids can pretend to be rocket ships set for launch.  Practice counting down to blast-off!  You can make the challenge as easy or difficult as you want remembering that you don’t have to start counting down from 10.  You and your kids can count down by ones (e.g., 17, 16, 15, 14…) or  Practice counting by 2’s (e.g., 25, 23, 21, 19…)!    For advanced math students, try multiples (e.g., 21, 18, 15, 12…)!

Win It! Two of you will win a copy of Math Adventure to the Moon on DVD.  Simply leave me a comment with one way you teach your children math. Comments will close on April 5, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST.  One comment per person, please (unless you do the extra credit). US residents only. Duplicates and comments not including the above information will be disqualified. Comments are moderated. If you don’t see your comment in a reasonable amount of time, send me an email. Bloggers and non-bloggers may enter. If you don’t want to leave your email address, please be sure to check back for my announcement on the winner. Please note that winners must respond within 48 hours of being announced/contacted or another winner will be drawn.

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I did not receive compensation for this post.  I received a copy of the DVD to facilitate this review.

Caryn Bailey
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76 Responses to Math For Preschoolers *Giveaway*

  5. I teach them fractions when I cook and give them their medicine. I would love to win this giveaway for my 3 1/2 yo twins.

    denise_22315 at yahoo dot com

    Reply

  8. I just bought the Leapster 2 for my little girl and this would be a great educational addition to her games and learning DVD’s

    Reply

  9. We take a lot of road trips to see family and every time we’re in the car, my kids ask how many miles the trip is. Then we work on fractions the entire way based on the number of miles we’ve driven. Is that weird? It sounds weird now that I’m writing it.
    Thanks for the giveaway. My youngest would love this!

    s.mickelson at gmail dot com

    Reply

  10. I taught my eldest son math with coins (I started with pennies because they are easy to find and can be used to show places: ones and tens etc). When he get older, we made a game out of it. We would allow him to “practice” using various coins to make small items purchases (For example: I would put toys found around the house on the table with price tags– hot wheels $.89, tiny stuffed animal $1.13, marble $.21 etc.) and ask him to pick out 2 items and pay me for them.

    Reply

  11. When I give him snacks (such as gold fish, gummies, etc.) I have him count them as I lay them down. I try to use every opportunity as a learning opportnity.

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  14. With my 2 year old, I just work on counting different things with him. My 3 year old and I have been trying to count to 30 and we’ve been working on some simple addition and subtraction in workbooks 🙂

    Reply

  16. I teach my children math by allowing them to earn play money for doing chores, and then spending it at “mommy’s store.”

    Reply

  18. I have flash cards that we do daily and he has learned his numbers from the brainy baby numbers dvd. Thanks for the chance!

    Reply

  26. Right now my son likes to count at red lights to see how high he can get before it turns green. He is 4 and got to 102 yesterday. It was a LONG red light!

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  29. I have my 3 year old grandson count pennies and he helps me roll them up to deposit in his little savinga account

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  31. I daughter learned math and to read by the age of four simply by using dvd’s and certain shows. Then, she started wanting to count out everything when we went out shopping for groceries.

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  32. I played a game with my son when he was little that I now play with my nieces and nephews. When going on driving trips, we pick a color and count how many cars we saw of that color

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  36. We do number recognition by using my fingers. I will put up fingers and then she has to say how many are up. If she doesn’t know automatically then she has to count them.

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  41. we use the numbers on thomas and friends trains to help with math…we count objects in the house…we ask how many does he have of something…we are even getting him to count to 10 in spanish
    [email protected]

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  43. For my granddaughter we do a lot of counting–everything we see. with my grandson who is 6, it is money and time. He figures how much things cost, how much money he has, what will be left if he buys multiple things, etc. sometimes we just play number games. Lots of ways numbers can be brought into regular life.

    Reply

  44. My husband and I count just about everything when we’re around our grand daughters who are 4 and 2. We try simple addition and subtraction with the 4 year old and the 2 year old watches attentively!

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  45. We’re in the early stages of learning math, so we just use things like cheerios and M&Ms. If they get it right, then they get to eat a couple. M&Ms also worked in potty training. I never knew they’d be so useful. Thanks for the chance!
    Kelly Deaton – secrets_girl23(at)yahoo(dot)com (aka) dkad23(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply

  46. I’m an email subscriber.
    Kelly Deaton – secrets_girl23(at)yahoo(dot)com (aka) dkad23(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply

  58. I try to make a point to count everyday objects-food, trees, cars, anything!

    mscoffee77(AT)juno(DOT)com

    Reply

  60. My daughter will be 2 next month. So we aren’t doing actual math yet, but as a former teacher I completely understand the importance of building blocks. Right now we do lots of counting. My husband and I have taken to counting even when our daughter is not directly involved so that she’s even immersed in the language!

    Reply

  63. Our children are grown – we used in vivo examples. I believe they learn better with something they can see in person rather than the abstract.

    Reply

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