Many parents baulk at the prospect of teaching mathematics to their children. Often the very thought brings back memories of how much they hated the subject themselves at school and how they failed miserably. The best way to avoid these sorts of reactions developing in your own children is to start them early - around about three years old. Around this time, infants are already recognizing groups of the same quantities and can represent numbers exactly. (See research by Susan Levine and Janellen Huttenlocher, Professors of Psychology at the University of Chicago) This is the time when children find numbers fascinating. So if they are presented in a joyous way, children of this age will soon learn at a subconscious level, that numbers are joyous things. What are your first memories of numbers - some strict old schoolmistress drilling and testing you on times tables? If so, maybe this has clouded your vision. Imagine if you had already arrived at school with a full understanding of quantities and their symbols and viewed playing with them as an exciting and joyous activity. Maybe your response to the strict schoolmistress may have been a little bit different.
Math is quite simple to teach to an enthusiastic three year old. When your child has started recognizing quantities of objects, as in, "He's got more pencils than I have" it is time to go with the flow. All nations seem to agree that teaching children to recognize quantities of objects is the starting point for teaching math. This is usually done through sets. "Look at this group of shells. Does this group have more shells than that group?" The child will know just by looking at the groups of shells. Then the shells may be counted to see how many are in each group. This may seem simplistic but just this early understanding of quantitities is the basis of all mathematics. The most common mistake parents tend to make is teaching children to rote count 1-10. These abstract symbols called numbers need to be known, but before they need to be known, the child needs to know just what it is that they represent. Once the child understands the concept of quantity then it is time to show the abstract numerals that represent these quantities. By age four, children are capable of saying, "there are four shells in that group. That group has the most." Now they can verbalize what they are seeing. Levine in the study listed above says, "The time between ages 3 and 4 was found to be a crucial development stage for mathematics, as youngsters quickly expand their ability to understand the abstract relationship between numbers and sets as dissimilar as objects and events."