L has been enjoying telling us that she’s 1 when we ask how old she is for the past couple of months, so I decided it was time to bring in some numbers! The first step in teaching numbers is simple exposure. We have been counting things for a long time — each time we go up or down the steps, random objects that we find, etc. The next step is helping L associate the name of each number with its symbol. I had some number magnets from the dollar bins at Target, so I put them in a bowl on a cookie sheet and put the work on the shelf. L loves bringing this work to the table and sticking the magnets on. She often puts the numbers on backwards or upside down, but that’s ok — she’s only one and half. We don’t correct her. We just let her work with the numbers in her own way and begin to get familiar with them.
Introducing Toddlers to Numbers — Magnets
