Numbers and Math are a new and foreign language for many students. If a student is really interested in numbers, then we would go ahead and teach it a little earlier. If they’re not, we would wait until an age-appropriate time (about 3-4 years old). Then, when we teach it, we include teaching quantity and not just the labels of the numbers.

You can start by making it functional and reinforcing. For example: count the number of jellybeans before giving them to the child, count their favourite teddy bears.

Prerequisite skills: Rote counting (i.e., just naming numbers in sequence)

Skip counting – teach this skill much later than rote counting and 1:1 correspondence. It’s a grade 1-2 skill. Counting is a preschool skill.