Your child may not be counting yet, but there is plenty of evidence that at 18-24 months old, she is starting to explore early math concepts with her developing Knowledge of Numbers and Understanding Construction skills. She is more aware of quantity,^1,2 which you”ll see when she asks for “more” cereal once she notices that her bowl is empty. She also knows more about number relationships,¹ and may try negotiating with you to open “two” colors of craft dough if you give her only “one.”³ At bath time, she may even line up her rubber ducks and point to them as you count 1-2-3.

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Block play is one of the most effective ways for your child to learn early math skills, and at this age, you could see her build a tower of four or more blocks, and then knock it down with glee!¹ A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Delaware and Temple University found that playing with blocks helped young children develop spatial reasoning skills since they need to work out where to place blocks in relation to one another as they build.⁴ Experimenting with blocks and figuring out whether a particular block should be placed under, above, or next to another block will prepare your child for later learning in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines.⁴

In addition, when she stacks her blocks, she begins to develop an understanding of gravity and balance through trial and error.^5,6 She’ll learn to consider the weight and size of blocks, which must also balance and be supported by the blocks used on the bottom. In addition to learning about spatial relationships, block play also fosters her fine motor coordination and visual perception skills as well as supports her understanding of other critical mathematical concepts, including one-to-one correspondence (matching objects to objects or numbers to objects), seriation (order), patterns, and shapes.⁶

To encourage the development of early math skills during block play, try counting each block as she stacks them up to solidify her Knowledge of Numbers and Counting and One-to-One Correspondence skills. Consider Exploring Patterns by sorting blocks by features and building different towers based on single attribute like color, size, or shape. Or, try stacking a tower based on the particular order (seriation)⁷ of large to small from bottom to top. Go ahead and experiment with different arrangements and forms when you play blocks with your child. She’ll benefit from a deepening Knowledge of Numbers and Understanding of Construction because of it!

Play Tips:

Do you want to know how you can support your child’s development of Understanding Construction and Knowledge of Numbers skills at this age? It’s easy! Read on for some simple tips to incorporate into your daily play time together.

1. Find opportunities to count.^1,8 To support your child’s early math development, try to make counting and quantity lessons part of your daily routine. When you dress her in the morning, count each button as you button up her shirt. Or, count the number of blocks she uses to build a tower. Remember to start off small in your early math play together, since she will only be able to understand quantities of 3 or 4 during her first 18 months of life, and her ability to sense change in small quantities will develop slowly over time.⁹
2. Observe quantity concepts together. When you pour your child a glass of milk or water, play a quantity game by offering her a partially-filled glass to start with, then building up to a full glass. Try to discuss each change in quantity, saying “Here is a ‘small’ glass of milk. Would you like ‘more?’ Now I’ve poured you ‘half’ a glass of milk. Do you want ‘more’ milk? Well then, here’s a ‘full’ glass of milk!”
3. Offer a variety of building blocks to explore.¹ Make block play interesting by providing your child with many different types of blocks, including wooden blocks, interlocking plastic blocks, textured blocks, foam bath blocks, and even large cardboard blocks (made from cardboard boxes) to build forts with. To spark her interest in construction, make the experience of creating with her hands interesting and varied.
4. Let your child build on her own. Building with blocks is a challenging skill for a toddler. Give your child the opportunity to develop her persistence and problem-solving skills by letting her build on her own. However, if she starts to show increasing frustration or wants to give up on the activity because she doesn’t quite understand how to play with her blocks yet, offer her gentle guidance by giving her suggestions on what to do next.¹ If she’s still uncertain about what to do, model how to stack each block on top of one another and describe what you’re doing with simple instructions as you go.

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Developmental Milestones:

Has your baby achieved the following Understanding Construction and Knowledge of Numbers developmental milestones yet? If yes, check off all the skill(s) she has already mastered to date using Playful Bee’s developmental milestones tracker. It’s absolutely FREE and easy to use, just click HERE!

• Builds towers of 4+ blocks.

Sources:

¹Maryland State Department of Education (2010). Healthy Beginnings: Supporting Development and Learning from Birth through Three Years of Age.

²Kansas State Department of Education. Kansas Early Learning Standards: Building the Foundation for Successful Children.

³California Department of Education (2009). California Infant/Toddler Learning and Development Foundations.

⁴Verdine, Brian N.; Golinkoff, Roberta M.; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathryn; Newcombe, Nora S.; Filipowicz, Andrew T.; and Chang, Alicia (2013). Deconstructing Building Blocks: Preschoolers’ Spatial Assembly Performance Relates to Early Mathematical Skills. Child Development, 85(1).

⁵Gellens, Suzanne R. (2013). Building Brains. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

⁶Alexander, Nancy P. All About Unit Block Play. Early Childhood News. Retrieved March 14, 2014, from http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=397.

⁷Norwood Public Schools (2004). Children’s Development of Mathematical Concepts: Ages 0-4. Norwood Public School District. Retrieved March 14, 2014, from http://www.norwood.k12.ma.us/curriculum/documents/ChildrensDevelopmentofMathConcepts-Ages0-4.pdf.

⁸Texas Early Learning Council. Little Texans, Big Futures: Your Early Learning Guide for Infants, Toddlers, and Three-Year-Olds.

⁹Marmasse, Natalia; Bletsas, Aggelos; and Marti, Stefan (2000). Numerical Mechanisms and Children’s Concept of Numbers. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: The Media Laboratory. Retrieved February 6, 2014, from http://web.media.mit.edu/~stefanm/society/som_final.html.

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Playful Bee

Education Team at Playful Bee

Playful Bee is an e-Preschool that delivers inquiry-based preschool learning from the classroom to your home. Our preschool curriculum was created by our talented team of rock star teachers. With years of hands-on preschool and Kindergarten teaching experience, they've developed a high-quality preschool experience that is convenient-to-use and easy-to-teach by you, grandparents, or your nanny at home.

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