Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Cognitive Development (CD)

Subdomain: Mathematical Thinking and Expression

Goal: Children show understanding of numbers and quantities during play and other activities

Skill Progression: Counting

Age: 33-36 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 33-36 Months.

Observe an adult and child playing hide and seek. Each player takes turns hiding and counting to 10 very slowly, so the other can hide. The adult rewards the finder by announcing how many snacks he wins (1-4) depending on how fast the seeker was able to find the hider.

After a hide-and-seek round the adult selects how many snacks the finder has earned. The facilitator lets the child count out a specific number of snack items, observing how high the child counts with one-to-one correspondence.

Observe whether the child can count accurately to 10 or higher. Observe whether the child counts the snacks won with one-to-one correspondence up to at least four.

Children of this age love to move, and research reveals that movement can reinforce math learning. Early childhood educators and parents can encourage the child to count the number of times she can jump, how far she can run by the time the adult counts to 10, etc. Encourage parents to get involved in turn-taking movements and counting games too. Children are more motivated when adults play too.