This activity supports the development of your baby’s thinking skills. Baby will learn about mathematical concepts like quantity, more, empty, full and basic counting numbers - 1,2,3.
What you will do
Baby begins to understand mathematical concepts from a very young age. Mealtimes are a perfect opportunity to talk about and show baby basic ideas, like more, empty, or full.
- For example, when you give baby some porridge, you can say, “look the bowl is full!” when baby is finished, you can say, “look you ate it all, now the bowl is empty.”
- You can also do some basic counting, “you’ve got two strawberries. One, two!”
Exposing baby to mathematical language, numbers and counting will give them a great start to their numeracy development. You may even find that ‘more’ is one of baby’s first words!
Have fun!
Keywords to use
Talk to baby about full and empty, encourage your baby to ask for more and show baby when you put more in the bowl. Also introduce some basic number and counting, “You have three slices of apple! 1, 2, 3.”
Questions to ask
- How many do you have?
- Is it empty?
- Do you want more?