Math curriculum for toddlers?

Early Learning Teaching Your Child Math
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This thread has been going for a while and I can’t remember how many times I read it :biggrin: I am still trying to find the “perfect” fit for us but I realized I may need to look at the big picture before choosing a curriculum, i.e. beyond toddlerhood. This is not easy and that’s why I need your help here :clown:

Well, I think I may go for a combination of curricula that are supposed to “work well” with each other. As I mentioned in an older post, I am looking for a mental math program with other hands-on methods that will smoothly lead to advanced math curricula (calculus, statistics, etc.)

So here is a draft of what the program looks like:

  • I am now doing LM, Peter Whetherall, Your Child Can Discover, Marshmallow math with other hands-on activities and books. Also, I’ve recently purchased a Montessori Math kit at a bargain price and we are enjoying the sensorial material as a starter.

  • I am thinking to introduce a combination of the following curricula at 24 mos: Jones Geniuses, Singapore Math and/ or Right Start Math. Can anybody let me know what would fit better my objectives?

  • Around 3 or 4 y, I plan to introduce a Soroban program along with the previously chosen curricula.

  • Possibly Saxon Math for later stages.

Here is an interesting comparison of homeschooling math curricula that helped me “narrowing down” my choices:

http://www.homeschoolmath.net/curriculum_reviews/which_math_curriculum.php

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Well, it’s been a busier-than-expected week for us, but we’ve managed to get a little math in. The other day, our son pulled out his bucket of empty water bottles that he likes to hit with a plastic bat. As he and I would set them up, I would count each bottle, (yes, completely elementary compared to what some of you are doing, but it’s a start!). We did this a few times, and he didn’t seem at all interested in my counting, so I stopped and just set the bottles up. Then he started going through the motions of counting them! (He doesn’t say the numbers yet.) I was so excited!

Until I have some more time to research RightStart a little more (and some of the other programs), I’ve printed off several pages of the MEP Math since it’s free and immediately accessible. So far, there has been great interest. Today I am hoping to do lesson two of Marshmallow Math, (if I can pry myself away from this forum so I can read it before my son wakes up!).

Kerileanne99 – thank you for the idea of incorporating a little of the whole book (Marsh Math) throughout the day. As I have more time to read it, that sounds good. Also, you mentioned that the book is a good precursor to RightStart, does that mean that I shouldn’t even worry about an actually curriculum until we’ve finished going through Marshmallow Math?

Oh, and we received MathStart’s Just Enough Carrots in the mail – another big hit. I ordered another book in the series too, which should arrive next week.

As someone else mentioned (sorry can’t remember who), we’ve done a little of this as well: http://www.ixl.com/math/pre-k.

Additionally, while reading a book about numbers this morning, I held up 1 finger, 2 fingers, etc and my son copied me! So exciting! I guess my own lack of interest in math has been holding him back all this time!

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Yay, well done Sharpie! Looks like all it takes is a little inspiration from the other parents on here and a little determination on our part.

Kerileanne - thanks for the tip regarding reading the whole book. I’m about half way through and it really helps to have an overview.

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@ Korrale: I love your blog, not only the videos are truly inspiring but also the journal is so cute! I am trying to do the same matching activity (quantity & numerals) with slightly different manipulatives: wooden tokens and dotted cards. I have the same IKEA tray though lol

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Thank you so much.

There is so much I want to add to the blog. I love reading other blogs and getting ideas. So I want to be able to share what we do with others. I find that videos and pictures help me a lot.
Sadly James is not very amiable about being filmed.

That Ikea tray is great! I loved the size, the look of it and the handles when I bought it. I had no idea I could use a whiteboard marker on it at the time and that has been a great bonus. It makes it easy for use to contain our lessons. And James likes it too. He even gets his tray out and sets up his own lesson and tells me to sit. :slight_smile:

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That marker idea rocks! Karma to you!

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Here is a free Montessori album to teach math: http://faculty.fullerton.edu/syen/mts/math/_link.htm

The activities descriptions are very well detailed. We are not following it step by step. I am just including activities that may interest my DS during our playtime (a bit like what Keri suggested for Marshamllow Math). Today, we played with triangles and made lots of shapes, although it was hard for him to make regular ones on his own, he was naming them and having fun putting the triangles in different positions.

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Today Alex was playing one of her math apps, one that we got for her months and months ago based on a recommendation from a friend.
I was reminded just what a complete math package it is, and really, really recommend it for teaching toddlers math. It is by far the most extensive and exhaustive math app I have come across, and brilliantly done.

For those of you looking for simple, fun-based math ideas for toddlers? You could quite easily give them quite a good foundation by ONLY using Marshmallow Math and this app, so I thought I would share!

It is called Math, Age 3-5, by EuroTalk.

Make sure that you buy all of the topics, I think to unlock everything it is $9.99. Pricey for an app yes, but IMO well, well worth it…ten topics with about ten levels in each topic. Everything from position words to listening and following instruction, counting, recognizing quantities, matching, sorting, addition and subtraction, and much more. I really like that each topic starts very basic and gets progressively more advanced.

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I know pricey! But we love that app. Totally worth it It is currently my favourite math app. It have even replaced teach me kindergarten and a Montessori app for math.
I just wish there was a next level up.

The best thing about the euro talk 3-5 mth app is that I take all the lessons on the app and transfer them to real life. I have found from playing that James struggles with prepositions. So we do a stage on the app and then go and practice what we did all day through play. Currently focusing on “beside”
I also found, and was quite surprised that James struggled with telling me how many things were in the large group of assorted things. Like 3 cap,s 2 shoes, 2 umbrellas etc.
So I drew up pages of things based on the app and I had him circle things and subtitize them, and link them to the correct number. He has no issue telling me if it is just one set of things. But a jumble of things was challenging.

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The app looks great I will check it out. Thank you :slight_smile:

We are currently using MEP, Numicon, filefolder games and we are reading My first steps to maths. These books are great :yes: . I am also reading the Marshmallow math book for ideas.
The MEP is great and it is free. My little girl loves talking about those pictures. I have been trying to find a perfect curriculum for us but what we use now suits us perfect. I use bits of other curriculums like numbers with dots or montessori. We are not ready for any worksheets just yet so we use lots of manipulatives.
And we are still using LM.

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How are you getting on Sharpie? We have started using IXL with great success. I hook the laptop up to the TV & she points to her answer on the tv.I have been delighted to see that all our incidental Maths activities have sunk in

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Anyone has experience with Distar Arithmetics? Just curious if anyone used it.

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Karma for the recommendation Keri, we are LOVING this app!

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Seastar,

Me too! I love IXL too and I’ve been using it alongside Marshmallow math. On IXL, I click the country link to check up what the UK math curriculum requires at each grade level. I then copy that list out, and teach the IXL concepts using strategies from Marshmallow Math. So for example, for UK reception math class, IXL lists several concepts (e.g., counting). I noted that down, then went to Marshmallow Math to get ideas on best ways to incorporate counting. I count fingers, teddy bears, spoons, and all. I do the trampoline counting (mentioned in Marshmallow), etc., etc.

And I don’t follow Marshmallow Math topic by topic. Rather I use IXL as a gauge for what we should be learning, and then use Marshmallow for ideas on best ways to incorporate the required concepts into daily life.

I also noted other IXL reception skills like teaching position (i.e., teaching concepts like ‘above, below, in, out’). So I then incorporate those into daily life by demonstrating concepts like ‘in the cup’, ‘out of the cup’, ‘below the table’, ‘above the table’, etc., etc.

I love lists, so it’s great for me to know what I should be teaching at each grade level, and IXL is very good for that. (Huge, huge thanks to Mandab and Korrale for introducing me to IXL. That resource rocks!).

Any other ideas on how others are using Marshmallow? And IXL? Keri introduced me to the bright idea of reading through the entire Marshmallow book first, and using ideas as one deems fit, rather than doing the exercises one after the other. Another other suggestions? Thanks everyone.

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We are taking a similar approach nee. I love the lists on IXL as it makes it so much easier to develop your own comprehensive Maths programme. My baby was up all night a few nights ago so I reread Marshmallow Maths & I got so many ideas:

. I got a magnetic calendar as my daughter has shown an interest so we are using that & the section on time in MM.

When choosing books to read, I ask my daughter to suggest the order in which we will read them - working on ordinal numbers

I count backwards when I want her to finish an activity soon or if I want her to do something she doesn’t want to, ie you only have to brush your teeth for ten more seconds, etc

Matching wooden numerals to the correct amounts or placing the correct amount with the numeral

Trampoline counting (jumping on the bed)

Looking forward to hearing other ideas

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IXL really is awesome! I paid for it for a month and James and I went through all the exercises for Pre-k in the US. It took him just under 4 hrs of playtime to master the grade level 100%.

Now I am using the kindergarten (reception I think?) IXL list, marshmallow math and other resources to teach all the standards. I have suspended the account for 3 months and will see how he does when I reactivate.

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I am so glad hear how everyone is progressing with their toddlers in math!

I am constantly putting together new activities, lessons, and games, games, games, just for a break. ( mostly for the parents!)

I am putting together a blog for Alex, and hope to consolidate many of our ideas and resources/activities to keep from boring uninterested members with the antics of a single kiddo lol I am hoping to have things together this weekend, although it will be bare bones for a while :wink:

A few thoughts did come up when I was reading the latest posts here:

I have a few other books, somewhat similar to Marshmallow Math that I really like for ideas:
http://www.amazon.com/Games-Math-Peggy-Kaye/dp/0394755103/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347081957&sr=1-3&keywords=math+games+books

http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Wrights-Kitchen-Table-Math/dp/0982921128/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347082070&sr=1-2&keywords=kitchen+table+math

We are also using books for critical reasoning as well!

Seastar-
Alex was focused on calendars and time not too long ago as well…when she learned the days of the week and the months of a year, Every time I wrote Down the books read that day I put the date…I would say, oh, yesterday was Tuesday, April 6th, so what is today’s date? What will tomorrow be? It really helped her to put it all together.
I was trying to get her to memorize the whole ‘30-days has September’ poem as well…she memorized it, but it just didn’t seem to click. I found a really old book on mnemonics at the library, and it taught me a different way. This might be quite common in some areas, so forgive me if everyone but me already knew it lol ! You make a fist and use the top knuckles. Start at the knuckle on your index finger and call it ‘January’. Then the valley between that knuckle and the middle finger knuckle is ‘February’, middle knuckle is ‘March’ and continue in this manner counting the months in order, alternating 'ridges and valleys. After July on your pinky finger knuckle, start back on the first knuckle and continue across to Dec.
Then you just teach them that the months that land on a knuckle have 31 days, valleys have 30 day. ( all except for Feb, of course!). But it works like a charm for toddlers!

Oh! BEANBAGS, BEANBAGS, BEANBAGS!
We bought this set, but you could easily make your own. One side has the written number, the opposite side has the numeral…you could also put a quantity of dots on a side if you prefer. We have 1-20, and I made a zero. Awesome for aim and coordination, but we do equations with them, and SO many more activities. She could do this for hours and will often make up her own games, like trying to toss all the ways to add up to say, ten, into a basket.
http://www.amazon.com/Educational-Insights-Number-Bean-Bags/dp/B000MECK66/ref=sr_1_8?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1347083500&sr=1-8&keywords=beanbags

BTW- another one of our successful counting games was actually an activity in patience stretching as well. If she wanted something and was waiting for it, I would say, oh, not quite ready yet! Why don’t you count to 30 and I bet it will be ready! Then, oh, sorry, I forgot! Not QUITE done. How fast can you count from 30 back to zero? I am positive it will be ready then! (obviously not teasing or tormenting, but in a fun way, and you can increase the count. The bonus is it gives them something constructive to do instead of whining as well!). Alex hates waiting at stoplights?! Random, but don’t we all! So we play a game where she counts in the ‘math’ way ala RS (takes longer!) to see how long it takes the light to change.

For time, I started out making ‘clocks’ with a marker on paper plates, and labeled them with routine activities like breakfast time, lunch time, quiet ti,e, so on, gradually adding more, and put them up in the hallway as her ‘schedule’. I think it took about a week of this before she could tell the time to the closest five minute mark on a clock, although we are still working on exact minutes.

Seastar- glad you like EuroTalk math app. I am always amazed just how many concepts are included.

Korrale4kq-
Thanks for the recommendation on the Qwizful app! It has quickly become another favorite :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the suggestions, Seastar, Korrale, and Keri. I appreciate your insights so much. Please if you have any further suggestions, I’ll be very happy to hear them.

Keri, thank you for suggesting those books. Questions please:

  1. Which is comparable, or outperforms Marshmallow? Budget is a bit tight, so I wish to buy a few best. If both books are absolutely good, which would you recommend I get first? The Dr Wright books look good though. I did some web search and found the book is offered by Art of Problem Solving (AoP), which sonya_post mentioned in aangeles thread. And it appears sonya_post was the one who left one of amazon.com reviews on the Dr Wright Book 1. I hope she chimes in to comment. I even found some previews of the books on their website (http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Store/viewitem.php?item=ktm:1). What do you think of the Dr Wright books?

  2. Apart from those two, are there any other excellent recommendations of books to use for ideas? Thank you so much.

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Nee,

I just ordered Marshmallow Math from the library, I don’t have it yet so I can’t compare Kitchen Table with Marshmallow.

Kitchen Table is a manual for parents. The thing I found most useful about Kitchen Table is Dr. Wrights explanation of the mental concepts needed to grasp certain ideas. Say, one to one correspondence - it isn’t as simple as it seems. It helped me understand the roadblocks a child faces to understanding and then it gives ideas to overcome those roadblocks. In the case of one to one correspondence - you are waiting a child out as it’s a developmental issue. He points a out behavior a child will display and then explains what is going on in a child’s head. So when a child points at object and says two or three numbers he thinks that is what you mean by counting pointing and saying numbers.

From the table of contents, it appears that Marsmallow Math covers way more material than Kitchen Table 1 - there are three books in the series. My niece has my Kitchen Table books right now and I need to get it back from her. I remember when I read it made things so much clearer as to what I was trying to accomplish with my child. I had a running email conversation with Dr, Wright about teaching math and what I did wrong the first time around. I will try to go through my email archives and see if I can’t dig them up and then as soon as I have the Marshmallow Book I’ll be able to give a better review. Maybe I can get Dr. Wright to join us over here. He is an amazingly patient and gracious fellow.

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Quote 1:

It was great to get your email. Thanks for considering my books, but whether you get any of them or not I'm happy to talk about math education.

In my experience the most important thing is that the teaching materials need to be consistent with how the teacher likes to teach and the student likes to learn. For example, a local math education site run by someone I know likes to combine math with history lessons. That works really well for her and many people who use her materials, but it would not be the main method I would choose for my own use (though I might use many of the ideas). At the school where I teach, people sometimes talk about how a teacher should stay with methods that feel authentic to the teacher - I think there is a lot to that. I really like playing with numbers and seeing how they interact, so my style of teaching my own children was to give them problems and games in that general direction - for example, I had them working with number bases very early on because it seemed like fun to them and it gave them a chance to practice a number of basic skills and gain insights into things like place value. On the children’s side of things, some children love worksheets filled with problems, maybe because they are clearly laid out tasks that have a simple goal, and other children hate worksheets and find them tedious and boring. So, part of what I would suggest is that you do what you would probably do anyway - find what feels right for your situation and go with it. I will see if I can answer some of your questions and generate some ideas for you.

I am not that familiar with the various curriculum out there. A fellow math teacher who works with me homeschools his children, and he loves Singapore Math. I think a lot of his view of math education, so that is one more vote in that direction.

I am super busy just at the moment, so please allow me to finish responding to your email this coming weekend when I have a three-day weekend. So, more to follow soon.