The Importance of Learning to Count

Teaching a child to count may seem like a relatively easy task. However, it might also be frustrating and complex at times. Counting is the first math concept taught in school, and it can be taught as early as infancy. By the end of the preschool period, children understand and are able to apply five principles of counting. These principles are the one-to-one principle, the stable order principle, the cardinal principle, the abstraction principle, and the order-irrelevant principle. Developing mathematics skills is built on a series of foundations. Thus it is critical to master the basics in order to progress to the next level of math. Math skills are relevant to developing science, reasoning, and money management skills. If you make learning fun, children will enjoy learning math throughout their school years.

There are many ways that parents can incorporate a counting exercise into daily activities. During infancy, you can count fingers and toes while you are bathing them, changing them, or playing with them. While feeding a snack to your child you can “count” the number of crackers or cereal along with them. You can also start teaching them to count at this age by introducing fun and interactive counting books. Over the past decade educators and retailers have made the job easier for parents to help their youngsters count with all of the advancements made in technology. For instance, my child development company, iMomConnect, recently released its first iPad book application entitled “Over in the Meadow Animated Storybook.” This educational and entertaining book app helps children count from 1 to 10 and learn the sounds of various animals. It can be purchased on iTunes for $0.99 (http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/imomconnect-llc/id402150184).

Over in the Meadow is classic children’s poem which is now brought to life using animation, audio and colorful graphics as a storybook app. Follow the story of different types of animals and see what activities they partake in during the course of walking through a meadow on a sunny day! The rhyme was derived circa 16th century and instantly captures the attention of children of all ages because of its poetic lyrics which are narrated by a young girl, Madison Moran, with a charming voice.

There are 3 ways to experience this storybook:
“Read it Myself” – Children read the story independently and explore features
“Read to Me” – Narrator reads story aloud and the listener turns the pages
“Auto Play” – Narrator reads story aloud and the pages automatically turn

Benefits:
• Enjoy animation and bright colors throughout the story
• Practice counting numbers and hear animal sounds on every page
• See “Special Animation” on some pages (find the arrows!)
• Find and press the hidden number on each page and a bright red one will appear!
• Listen for animal sounds on “The End” page which features all the animals from the story. Their sounds can be heard by simply pressing an animal on the page!

The app has already become one of the 50 best selling apps in the iTunes store and was placed on the “New and Noteworthy” list for Book apps. The app has been featured in newspapers across the country including the San Francisco Chronicle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/11/12/prweb4781134.DTL). Link to the press release for the Over in the Meadow Animated Storybook App: http://www.imomconnect.com/press.html. A video demonstration of the app can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49lcQOH954E.

For further information/resources on teaching children to count, please visit the following links:

http://www.songsforteaching.com
http://math-and-reading-help-for-kids.org