Math for 4 Year Old

My husband always thought it was fun to do math while eating... If I have 8 goldfish crackers and I eat 2, how many do I have now? How should we divide up the pizza? etc.

Try Lakeshore Learning Center - they have both retail stores & a website.
ALSO - math and music go hand in hand in the brain, and with child development - start him, possibly, with a little kids keyboard to play around with. I'd not begin music lessons yet - but there are programs out there that explore music for young kids.

I've seen this suggestions in other posts, but I'll repeat because my son LOVES them, and he's also a numbers fan (probably be an engineer like his papa!) Dot to dots are great for teaching sequencing numbers, and there are many available online that you can print out depending on your son's interest of the day or seasonal activities. Pattern-making is another great skill, and you can integrate patterns with shapes, numbers, colors, anything. My son will not eat many foods until he sorts them and makes patterns first (peas, carrots, beans, etc.) You can make patterns when doing laundry, dishes, shopping, driving. Have fun!

Hi V S, It's great that your son is so advanced, and loves learning. I buy pre kindergaren work books, for math, reading. spelling, for my daycare kids, I offer kindergaten readiness, the work books are good, because you can take the papges out and scan them so you always have your originals, for your future children, and it aids in the children not spending so much time in front of a screen. I have a four year old n my daycare and I';m getting her reading for kindergarden, she knows all her colors, most of her shapes, she understands patterns for example blue circle red circle, blue circle blue circle red circle, she can continue the pattern by herself. She also can tell you smoke comes from fire and steam comes from water. I'm happy to see a mom out there that believes in letting kids grow and advance at such a young age, I had a mom slam me and tell me I have no right to be a daycare provider because I have 3 month olds that can hold their own bottles, It'd funny cause I have a 2 month old that yesterday when I was feeding him he gripped the bottle with both hands, so i let go to see what he would do, and he held it. Children should never be held back from learning, so keep doing what you are are doing, your son is very blessed to have a mom who allows him to advance even though it may be farther that what the average 4 year old knows. Try the work books they are great. J.

I would suggest you go to a teaching store. In aurora we have the chaclkboard. But they have all the sorts of games and stuff a teacher will use at school. we bought my son 2 things there. one was a set of counting bears it had a hundred little teddy bears in 3 different colors for counting/sorting etc and then several games along with it to play. the other thing was a pizza game which we used to start fractions he started that in like 1st grade and loved it also. good luck. oh another suggesting get things he actually uses his hands for nt electronic games. it helps with eye hand coordination and fine motor skills.

Not sure if you have a teacher supplies store near you, but if you do that's your best bet. Not only will they have a wide variety of games and workbooks, but they usually have teachers employed there part time in the evenings and on weekends so you can get first hand advice. If you don't have a teacher store near you, try online. Lakeshore Learning Store is near where I live but I know they have a website, too. Look for kindergarten activities and books first, then when/if he aces them you can move on to first grade ones. Make sure when he hits kindergarten that you let his teacher know right away that he is advcanced so she can give him advanced work. In first grade, my son's teacher gave him the chapter tests and ended up letting him move on to the 2nd grade math book... unfortunately, when he got to 2nd grade, he couldn't move up to the 3rd grade book because it was too hard and had things he had not been introduced to yet. So we supplimented at home with workbooks to keep up his math ineterest. He is now accelling in pre-Algebra, which is the highest math class they offer in 6th grade at his school.

My son loves brainpop and poptropica online. Have you checked with the school district about starting your son early? I think if he is as advanced as you say he is he sounds ready for kidergarten. Don't hold him back due to age, unless he is really not emotionally ready. I would think that you might be able to sit in a few kindergarten classes ( possibly math time) with him so he can be ready for it in a few months. It must be really exciting to see his little brain work over these numbers. Make sure to keep lots of momentos.

I am an elementary teacher and tutor all aged students. I also have a 26 month old who loves numbers, too.

Dot-to-dot books are a great and fun way to count in progression. I would also look at getting a Judy clock and start working on reading a clock, working with money (esp. coins), and using the proper words associated with math. A lot of people forget that these concepts are math.

Also, start skip counting by 2's, 3's, 4's, etc. You are getting him ready to be able to add doubles, and later multiplication.

Memorization of facts is key to being able to be really good at most math....start it now, but don't over drill it if he doesn't like it. You can have him draw pictures of 1 + 2 and make his own book. Having a student write a fact down and associate it with something from his background will stick much better than flash cards.

Visit a teacher supply store and walk the math aisles. They have a TON of games, activities, and manipulatives to work with. You know your child best and what he is capable of. Ask a store clerk for help if you need it (most are teachers!).

Go online and "google" specific concepts you want to teach. Don't pay for any subscription unless you know you'll use it. There are so many resources for free. Scholastic has a great website for parents and teachers.

Keep your child's learning style in perspective as you collect ideas. Does he learn verbally? By doing something? Association with other things/concepts? Listening and repeating? Song and music? Teaching others?

Good luck and way to go Mama!

My son was doing math early also. We bought a few of the Reader Rabbit reading and math programs for the computer (they have various age and grade levels). He loved them. You can also get games like Yahtzee Junior where you have to add up your scores. We went to Lake Shore Learning Center and got a bunch of activity books too. Hope this helps! Good luck!

Just a warning though... My son was able to do math in his head at 4 and 5 years old. However, in Kindergarten and First Grade they teach the kids to count using blocks or beads or some other objects (so they can visualize the numbers) and they have to do it to complete their school work because they have to show their work - even if they already know how to count in their heads. It is a very frustrating situation because it almost sets the kids who can already count back by forcing them go back to basics. My son actually started to count on his fingers for awhile - it drove me crazy because it was for basic math that he knew when he was 3 and 4. So if you son continues his love of math the first few years of grade school may be boring and frustrating for him. You have to keep him motivated until they start doing more advanced work.

Have him roll 2 dice and add up the dots. Or each of you roll a die, and say who has more, how many more, etc.

Another game my son loves is called Shut the Box. Melissa and Doug make a version, which you can see at http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-4377-Shut-the-Box/dp/B...

I love Learning Wrap Ups, which you should be able to find at a teacher store. They are great manipulatives too.

mazes, dot to dots. I know early math is a lot of patterning. like black white black-what is next? obviously those patterns can get pretty complex.

If you have an iphone there are some great apps for 99cents. 123 counting and Kids Math Ace. My 3 year old does these and loves them! I am sure there are many more available. We also have the abacus from Mellissa and Doug-- which helps with adding and subtracting or getting the concepts. Chicka chicka 123 is a great book to read with them also!

My son is in kindergarten and I am with the former elementary teacher. Also, I know you were focusing on math here, but it sounds like he has the math thing down - very ready it seems for school. I know you were asking for math ideas, but maybe there is another related area of interest he might enjoy learning more about, too? For example, my son loves going to the library and getting science books and doing simple experiments.

barnes and noble carries plenty of math workbooks.
at that age i did only addition and subtraction (bigger number in your head, smaller number in your hand) to avoid using blocks or anything of the sort.
we wrote numbers up to certain (100 is highest i got with mine before they entered kindergarten).
i can tell you though now that mine are in kindergarten, they're pretty bored. they're going through all the things my girls already know so i am kind of regretting teaching them beforehand. not bad but they're not as excited as they were initially when i started working with them.

They have Kumon math workbooks at Target which would be age appropriate. My son likes them. Also, have you ever seen math dice? Pretty cool.

http://www.freemontessori.org/?page_id=9

My husband turned going up and down the stairs into a math game.. He would stand at the bottom and call out an additon or subtraction problem and they would go up or down the stairs directed by the answer ie: 2+3 and they would have to do the math and then climb up 5 steps then 3-1 and they would come down.. and so on, up and down they would go until they got to the top and went off to bed. It was a fun way to get them up to bed every night and they loved it. Whenever the answer brought them to the bottom they got another good night kiss. they never knew they were learning, it was just a silly daddy game..

Target and Walmart both sell books aimed at the preschool group. They have different activities for learning and integrating numbers. A bookstore is also a great source for learning books. My son was the same way and loved doing the books. I also had a book from a teacher store tahat gave me some activities we could do to incorporate math or reading appropriate for the age. The people that work there usually know their products well to help pick something out. TLS Books is a great wwebsite to get works sheets from: http://www.tlsbooks.com/preschoolworksheets.htm I still use it for my 5th graders and will be visiting in a year or so for my 2 yr old.

Check out this website:http://www.theteacherscorner.net/
There are printable math worksheets!

Kumon workbooks. My daughter has worked at Kumon for several years, and raves about the program. The kids enjoy it, and learn a tremendous amount.