Many parents are eager to teach their children basic number concepts at a young age. For a 2-year old, exposure to these important concepts through play is the best (and most fun!).
Fear not if your child shows little interest at this age; simply incorporating skills into various types of play and daily routines will ensure your child is getting the exposure that is appropriate for this age.
Learn
Basic Concepts (for 2-3 Years Old)
- Uses several number words, as in a counting rhyme, without necessarily understanding quantity of larger numbers.
- Is familiar with quantities of 1 and 2, and sometimes 3, and can count up to 3 or more.
- Responds appropriately to the request, “Take only one,” or “Please give me two.”
- May be able to determine the number of items in a group using one-to-one correspondence, where they point to each item and count in order to determine the total number of items.
- Begins to appropriately use the terms “none”, “a lot”, “many”, “same” and “more” when making comparisons between groups of different sizes.
- Around 2.5, children begin to mentally compute that one item added to another item makes two and one item taken away from two makes one.
Just Remember
Do
Tips for Talking with your Child
- Show your child how numbers and counting apply to everyday life.
- Use number words, point out numbers, and involve your child in counting activities every day.
- Have your child count out 5 strawberries for breakfast, hand you 2 toys when cleaning up, or choose 3 books to read out loud. At the market, ask your child to choose 4 apples, 3 bananas, or 1 container of yogurt.
- Talk about how things or amounts are more, less, bigger and smaller.
- Use number words, point out numbers, and involve your child in counting activities every day.
Easy Things You Can Do
- Read, tell stories, sing songs and recite poems that include numbers and counting. Some favorites:
- “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, once I caught a fish alive…”
- “5 little speckled frogs, sat on a speckled log…”
- “5 little monkeys jumping on the bed….”
- “10 crunchy carrots all yours and mine, my gerbil ate one…”
- Collect materials your child can safely use for hands-on counting – put them in a bag or jar and pick a time to count and re-count them again and again. Counting objects with your child reinforces 1:1 correspondence – the understanding that every object can only be counted once.
- Encourage your child to point to each item, touching it to reinforce the understanding of 1:1 correspondence.
- Old keys, dried pasta and cereal are easy, engaging choices.
- Play simple games that ask children to count objects, recognize printed numbers or compare groups of items. Our favorite printable freebies (no credit taken; we just scoured the Internet to find the best for you):
- Fun playdough mats – For counting and number recognition.
- Clever DIY counting cards – Easy to prepare and highly engaging.
- Note: At this age, your child will likely not be able to recognize numbers independently. But once these cards are made, they can be used repeatedly as your child grows and becomes more adept at identifying numbers. Makes a great, small, quiet time or on-the-go toy!