It is possible to help your child develop their numeracy skills using simple resources and opportunities in the home with absolutely no need to spend money on commercially produced maths resources.

Here are five little ideas that will help to make a big difference to your child’s developing mathematical abilities:

1. Sing songs and say rhymes that include numbers

Sing songs and rhymes that include numbers from the earliest age and your child will become familiar with them. As they grow older and develop their language, children will join in and eventually sing these rhymes independently. Make up your own number songs if you have a creative streak, for example, as you climb the stairs with your toddler you could sing “one step up to bed, two steps up to bed, three, four and five and six and seven steps up to bed!” You can easily adapt the words to a familiar tune of your choice – just find the musician inside yourself and alter the lyrics to a number rhyme!

2. Play some guessing games

Use a jar or other container and fill it with buttons, dried pasta shapes, sweets or pebbles and play a regular guessing game with your child. Ask them “how many sweets do you think are in this jar?” This will give them their first experience of estimation. At first, they will probably be way out with their guess (unless it’s a lucky one!) but they will get increasingly close and eventually accurate. Count the sweets together by emptying them out and popping them back in the jar one by one.

3. Let them lay the table

Counting out knives, forks, spoons, cups and plates is an excellent way to get children involved in real life situations that involve counting. Laying the table for a pretend toys tea party is another great way to get them counting out objects and they can even count out and share the food as well!

4. Play Number Eye Spy

When you are out and about, or even just at home – engage your child in a game of number eye spy by encouraging them to spot numbers in the environment. There are numbers everywhere when you think about it – on the TV remote, the clock, your front door, the computer keyboard, car number plates, the front of buses, in the supermarket etc. You could start by looking for a special number of the week – for example; spend a week on the look out for the number 3. Children soon latch on to this idea and will no doubt drive you crazy with their number spotting while you can rest assured that they are learning and becoming confident!

4. Use number in everyday conversation and instructions

This is probably one of the most crucial and effective ways to heighten your child’s awareness. Begin by modelling your own numeracy by counting allowed when you are doing buttons up on a shirt, their coat or counting fingers on a glove. Modelling and counting allowed yourself is a vital to get your child interested in numeracy. Try to balance your talk with conversations that include number as well as questions. Talk about how many potatoes are on each person’s plate at dinner time and ask them to help you count your CDs or DVDs when you are tidying up.

By involving your child in fun and interesting activities and games to do with numbers and counting, you will be helping them to cultivate a positive approach to numeracy way before the formal expectation of writing numbers or doing sums begins. As they grow older, it will be easier for them to engage in practical problem solving and calculations because you have helped to build a solid foundation for you budding mathematician.