Goals. Children take years to develop a complete understanding of numbers. Counting builds up the skills children will need for emerging number-sense, and later mathematical skills. Counting together also strengthens knowledge about speech rhythms, and verbal sequences, so it strengthens language skills too!

How does it work? When babies are born they understand something about quantities like more and less, but not numbers. By counting together, children can learn the rhythm of counting, and the order of the sounds that make up the ‘number song’, even when they don’t know the meanings of each number word. Familiar verbal routines like counting can encourage children to join in with their voices and practise their speaking skills. When they have mastered counting, they have all the skills they need when their knowledge of numbers develops.

Key point. There’s no need to ‘teach’ and ‘test’ which number is which, since children will learn this at their own pace. Instead, you can focus on the fun of sharing a familiar verbal routine as you count different things around your home (eg. spoons, windows), or actions in your day-to-day life (eg. steps to the door, each toy to put away).

Multilingual insights. You can count in any language! Among bilinguals, some people use one language for counting, and another for mathematics. Some people use one language for both activities. Others switch between languages for different tasks like memorizing a phone number. There’s no need to worry about which language is best for this verbal routine.