Math and science in the early years

Encouraging inquisitive minds

At a time when PB & J and Dora the Explorer dominate your life, your child's future career in computer science - or any other math or science field for that matter - probably seems light years away. However, when you encourage your toddlers and preschoolers to ask questions, experiment and explore the natural world, you are helping build children's interest and confidence in math and science - important subjects they'll use in many ways throughout their lives. Hands-on is best for science and math.

Although there are many quality toys and appealing computer software designed to encourage children's learning in math and science, early childhood teachers and researchers say that young children learn best from hands-on experiences - the messier the better!

Encouraging your children's learning in math and science doesn't have to be a high-pressure pursuit. In fact, most of the beginning math and science ideas - numbers, patterns, colors, size, shape, weight, texture, cause and effect - are concepts that children learn naturally as they play and explore their world.

Discovering the world of math and science

Even if you don't consider yourself math/science-minded, there are plenty of fun and easy ways that can help you and your children discover the exciting world of math and science right at home. Here are some ideas:

• Learn something new together. So your four-year-old wants to know why pteranodons don't fly the skies anymore. Often we think it's up to us to have all the answers. The beauty of the early childhood years is that you get to learn about dinosaurs right along with your children. Their questions can lead you to places such as science museums and fun, child-friendly Web sites to learn more. They can also provide lots of opportunities to practice reading, writing and drawing - skills that grown-up scientists also use to let everyone know about their discoveries.

• Bake a cake, or pat a pizza. The measuring, cutting and mixing involved with cooking and baking offer lots of opportunities for math and science exploration. But be prepared - cooking with your children is more about the process than the beauty of the finished product. The Baking Book by Jane Bull and Salad People and More Real Recipes: A New Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up by Mollie Katzen are two collections of yummy, kid-friendly recipes to try. (Salad People includes a fun recipe for Counting Soup, a perfect way for children to get their math and veggies all together.)

• Count your pennies. Once children are beyond the stage of popping everything into their mouths (usually during the preschool years, ages 3-5), coins can be wonderful tools for learning about patterns, colors and numbers/amounts. Extend your preschoolers' money skills by setting up shop. Help them price a collection of their toys (e.g., 50 cents for teddy, $1 for the doll car) and have them count out the cash to pay for their favorites. Make sure they know this is play and that all their favorite toys will be given back.

• All about me. Children get a lot of pride from learning how old and tall they are or how much they weigh. Learning these vital stats is easily accomplished using tape measures (kids love having their own), rulers and the bathroom scale. You can also use non-traditional tools for measuring length (e.g., "Jacob is 28 blocks tall" or "The spoon is seven goldfish crackers long.") and estimating weight (e.g., "I wonder how many of my stuffed animals I need to pile on the scale in order to reach my weight"). Preschoolers can learn their address by singing it (e.g., "Sing a song of Sarah's house at 995 South Street," sung to the tune of "Sing a Song of Sixpence") or clapping its syllables. Tech-savvy tots will enjoy punching in the numbers of their phone number on one of your old cell phones.

• About the house. Household repairs can offer you and your children fun opportunities to practice math skills (e.g., counting how many nails are needed to fix the picnic table, measuring wood and rope to make a new swing). Children can learn responsibility - as well as number skills and shapes - as they set the table with four square napkins, six round bowls and two cylindrical cups. Sorting and folding the laundry offer practice with matching, patterns and shapes.

• Look for numbers and shapes in the world around us. Car rides are a great time to look for the shapes of street signs or places where numbers pop up in the neighborhood and along the road. Make note of how a pizza starts out round and then becomes a bunch of triangles. Point out Mom's round glasses and the rectangular door.

Back-to-nature

The importance of outdoor play and exploration

Children can learn so much when they explore the natural world. By spending time outdoors, swinging from trees, splashing in puddles and watching flowers pop out of the ground, children learn about the cycle of life and their own connection to nature. They also begin to develop investigative and problem-solving skills that will help them later when they tackle more formal science and math learning.

Ideally, young children should have time to play outdoors every day (weather permitting) in unstructured, but supervised, ways. However, it's also a lot of fun and healthy for families to spend time together in the great outdoors. Here are some ideas for activities that will get all of you back to nature:

• Create a butterfly garden in the backyard or in containers on your windowsill or deck.

• Visit local farms or nature centers.

• Take a hike.

• Bike around the block.

• Go on a scavenger hunt in search of signs of spring.

• Build a secret hideout.

• Enjoy a picnic lunch or snack al fresco.

Read all about it

Picture books to spark interest in math and science.

From slithering sloths to rockets that shoot through space, picture books offer a wealth of information about math and science topics. Following is a selection of math and spring-themed science picture books for you and your children to share. For recommendations of other books that tap into your child's special interests, check with the youth service librarian at your local library.

Picture books that explore math ideas:

Quack and Count by Keith Baker (problem solving)
Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Garrett Bang (number sense)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (patterns)
Roar! A Noisy Counting Book by Pamela Duncan Edwards(number sense)
Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert (shape) Eating Fractions by Bruce McMillan (fractions)

Spring books that explore science ideas:
Down Comes the Rain by Francis Branley (weather/natural world)
One Small Place in a Tree by Barbara Brenner (natural world)
Tiny Seed by Eric Carle (gardening/natural world/life cycle)
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert (gardening/colors)
In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming (natural world)
It's Spring by Linda Glaser (spring/seasons)

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