How to start teaching 2.5yo kid skip counting?

Early Learning Teaching Your Child Math
1

Hi , how should i start to teach her skip counting? Currently she’s able to count from 1 to 30 at least i think. I recently started to show her these videos…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wwydguSKOU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_awKlEMyleA&feature=relmfu

she loves to watch but i am not sure is this the right way to start teaching skip counting. Although she may be able to remember how to recite by 2 or by 5 , I hope i get her the right idea what does those :slight_smile: numbers means.

How do you start teaching skip counting? Advise needed please.

Thanks.

2

I’m sorry I missed this before! Those videos are a great place to start. Do you have Little Math? If so, it is great for teaching skip counting too. Go to the Numbers tab, then “custom lists” then “even numbers” to count by twos, “multiples of 5” to count by fives, etc. I would show one or two of these daily, and downloading some custom icons your child loves makes a huge differance. Then, reinforce these concepts using food (cherrios, blueberries, raisins, nuts if your child eats them, etc). counting toys, etc. I would also invest in an abacus. You can just get a regular 100 bead abacus (like melissa and doug makes) or buy a right start abacus. I think it is worth it to either get the RS abacus or just paint the beads on a regular wooden abacus or replace them with beads from a craft shop. I painted mine very recently (4 screws easily took it apart to get the beads off) and while my paint job was mediocre at best, it makes a HUGE difference in my opinion in helping the kids quickly learn to think in 5’s and 10’s. You may be able to find an abacus cheap from a garage sale or kids resale shop too, or the plastic ones are around $13 plus shipping. I preferred wood through for something sturdier. At 2.5, my son can manipulate the beads but it helps him if I guide the beads on the racks lower than the one he is moving so he doesn’t accidentally move those too, he’s still building fine motor control. But, I LOVE the abacus because there is no mess. Sometimes I will do “Mommy’s turn” then “Owen’s turn” so he gets to watch me and vice versa. It’s a nice way to reinforce the Little Math concepts with something hands on. Leapfrog math to the moon also has a part in it that introduces skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s.

Hope that helps!

3

Thanks for your suggestions! I didn’t know little math has such function. I have stop showing my kid little math due to she seems not interested anymore even i change the icon :frowning: Shall try again with the skip counting. May i know what is right start abacus? Whats the different with other abacus. i try to google the image of how it looks like but seems couldn’t find any pics.

What i have is something like that…

http://www.givinggiftsthatgive.com/sitebuilder/images/Abacus-319x291.jpg

Is there any guide on how to use the abacus to teach math concepts?

Thanks :slight_smile:

4

Can you unscrew your ababcus and put the beads back on on groups of 5? Take of the last five beads and swap them for the last 5 beads in another row.
If you start by focussing on counting by 2s you could even replace the beads in colour groups of 2! Then when you get to counting by fives swap them to groups of five.
Anyway the videos are great. My kids i formed me that the counting by 2 s video is the one they used in their first year at school. the count by fives is a bit too fast ( even the twos one might be for younger kids) so use it as an introduction and familiarity tool. You will need to add in some activities that go at a slower pace so your child has a chance to count out loud. I can recommend counting and jumping on the trampoline or counting while swinging on the swing. (BTW I taught all my kids to propel themselves on a swing before age 2, so I don’t push much…lazy mummy :wink: )
Also get a colour printed 100s chart and show them that you are skipping numbers when you count by 2s and 5s. One of our Brill(iant) mummies made some and put them in the math post I will add a link to them shortly. It would be worth paying to get them printed in a larger size. But print a few off and have your child put dots ( stickers) on the numbers ass they count.
You could also use a (chalk?) number line assuming your child can recognize and order numerals.
I see no reason not to teach skip counting before the understanding of what it is BTW it is a rote learned skill mostly so the understanding needs to come at some point but not necessarily first.
Oh we had a great time dancing around to your videos, thank you :slight_smile:

5

Every since Cayden started talking and being able to repeat after me I would pick a concept like counting by 2s to 20, to 40 etc. or even nursery rhymes, days of the week and so on…
I would say 4 wait for him to repeat, then say 8…
Majority of the time i would use something to help him visualize the concept. But sometimes I would repeat without the visual when we had a free minute.
For counting by 4s we used the wheels on toy cars, by 5s I used the points on some stars I cut out.
Whenever he felt comfortable he would initiate the game with me and say 4 and then I would repeat after him. when we first started it would take him about three to five days to completely memorize. Now he can memorize things by the end of the day. I have a list of everything so I can remember what to review.
The customized lesson in Little Math allow you to create your own lists so you can add to what is provided.
He learned how to count and recognize numbers up to 100 from the lessons in Little Math
I also use a number line math activity chart from lakeshore.com
I found it easier to start with counting by tens. He had fun repeating it and I was able to have him understand the concept by looking at a poster of numbers 1-100

Edit: I just saw your wrote that your little one has lost interest in LM. That happened to me a couple times also. Have you tried changing the background color to random? Also try changing the numeral font type and color to random. Sometimes taking a break and talking about LM enthusiastically will spark her interest again.

6

Hi BabyMum!
My daughter is a bit older than your kiddo and we have done lots of activities for skip counting. One really cute resource I found after I had already taught her, is a set of fairly easy stories in a set called Number Talesby Scholastic. this set of books has sixteen total books, and includes a book for each number 0-10, 20, 30, 100, skip counting by 2’s, 5s, and 10s. Very fun, and use bright pictures…for example, for skip counting by 2s they use their version of ‘The Ants go marching two by two’. The set also comes with a teaching book full of reproducible, miniature books and lots of further ideas. The whole set runs about $35 from Amazon, although I am about halfway through converting them to LR format!

http://www.amazon.com/SCHOLASTIC-0545067731-Number-Tales-Teaching/dp/B002PIFNPW/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1344059627&sr=1-1&keywords=scholastic+number+tales

Other things we did- use a number line to hop to the next number, outdoor hopscotch games drawn in chalk on the patio, an abacus, lining up toys fora parade 2 by 2, pairs of shoes and socks in the laundry,
we have an inexpensive talking coin bank that will announce totals of nickels and dimes, interlocking math cube manipulatives (still one of her favorites! They come in sets of 100, 10 of each color!)

We use her hundreds pocket chart for so much, and have a smaller version on the bathroom mirror. When
she brushes her teeth or washes at the sink, she chooses whether to count to 100 by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, 10’s,
etc…we go forward and then backwards in the same fashion with us pointing at the chart as we go through!
She LOVES this, and doesn’t even have to think about it anymore, just flies through them. It also ensures
hands and teeth get clean with no fuss lol
I made sure when we started this to incorporate playtime with the abacus and manipulatives to make sure
she completely understood the physical relationship to quantity, but it was never a problem!
I do remember of of her favorites was to take two transparent plastic disposable cups (so she could easily
see the quantity!). I would give her 20 of something, often edible. For her raspberries worked VERY well,
although I twice did it with Jellybeans as well :yes: We transferred the items from cup to cup, counting by
1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s. She could see them in the cup for practice, and it was really great visualization to
realize that no matter how we broke it up, there were still always 20. We could even do addition and
subtraction ideas early, because it was very easy to demonstrate that if we knew the total was 20, and we
put X in one cup, there must be X in the other cup…and of course, she enjoyed getting to eat a few of the
‘manipulatives’ afterwards!
We did all kinds of variations, including transferring with spoons and tongs for fine motor practice as well…

Anyway, there are so many more little activities we incorporated into daily activities, but this might give you
some more ideas…
Oh! Songs! Especially ones with characters that appeal to the kiddos! For Alex, it’s all about the hens! ( she
has a treasured stuffed hen puppet that goes EVERYWHERE with us! Actually, two, but she doesn’t know
:yes: Here is a hen song I found that you might be able to adapt:

We start with zero chickens,
Then…
Two little chickens, looking for some more…
Along come another two and that makes four.

chorus:
Run to the haystack, run to the pen,
Run little chickens, back to mother hen!

Four little chickens, playing with some sticks…
Along come another two and that makes six.

Chorus!

Six little chickens, sitting on a gate,
Along come another two and that makes eight.

Chorus!

Eight little chickens, run to mother hen,
Along come another two and that makes ten.

Chorus!
(she shows me on her fingers via RS way to demonstrate.)

Regardless, lots of fun…

I also saw there is a free skip counting app called ‘counting and skip counting’ on ITunes, although I never tried It!

7

I made a post detailing what I meant here: http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-math/our-modified-'right-start'-abacus/ Good luck!

8

hi my kids can skip count by 2 5 and 10 , would like to each them skip counting by 3 , 4 6, 7 … they do really well learnign with songs but there are so many out there, i like something you used and worked for you . any recommendations please .
viv