How do children learn to count?
One of the first experiences children have with numbers is "counting". Counting starts as a pattern of words, just like a nursery rhyme. The children may not necessarily initially relate the words to a quantity.

Counting can be reinforced through story telling, picture books, songs and rhymes. Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs and the song Five Little Ducks all contain examples of counting.

Five little ducks went out one day
Over the hills and far away
Mother duck said "Quack quack quack quack!'
But only four little ducks came back.
Four little ducks…
Three little ducks…
Two little ducks…
One little duck went out one day
Over the hills and far away.
Mother duck said " Quack quack quack quack!"
And none of those little ducks came back.
Old mother duck went out one day
Over the hills and far away
Mother duck said "Quack quack quack quack!"
And all of the five little ducks came back.

Children learn the pattern of counting words by repetition. Initially, this pattern may have gaps where the child leaves out a number in the sequence or the child may invent numbers. It is common to hear a child say "twenty-ten" after counting to twenty-nine. Be patient! With lots of opportunities to practise your child will soon progress.

Learning the correct sequence of numbers is important, but how far along the sequence should you go?

When asking "counting questions" allow your child to count as far as he or she is capable of and then encourage your child to join you while you continue counting. Although your child may be a little behind you as you say the numbers, he or she will still have a feeling of counting with you and with repetition, will begin to learn the sequence.

It is often a good idea to start counting from a number other than one. For example, start counting from the age of the child. This encourages children to "count on" from a number, rather than having to go back to one and start counting. This is a useful method when answering addition questions.

As well as counting forwards and backwards, ask your child to name the number that comes before or after a given number. For example, ask your child, "How old will you be on your next birthday?" or "How old were you last year?" This also helps develop children's ability to count.

However, remembering the number words in the correct order is only part of the process of counting. To "count" we need to match the number words with the correct number of "things".

Many opportunities exist at home where you can encourage children to count objects.

• while setting the table, count out the number of plates, cups and cutlery
• count the number of buttons as you do up a cardigan
• when hanging out the washing, count the number of pegs used
• count the flowers in the garden or the number of flowers you pick to place in a vase
• count the number of steps taken from the front door to the letterbox
• count the number of eggs in a carton, and again after some have been removed
• count the number of times you and your child can throw a ball to each other without dropping it
• while walking along your street, count the number of houses with dogs.

As children's counting becomes more advanced they may begin to recognise groups containing small numbers of objects or patterns instantly. Helping children to "see" smaller groups of numbers within larger groups assists with the process of counting and in solving adding, subtracting and sharing questions.

Many games and activities lend themselves to developing concepts based on seeing small groups within larger groups and solving number questions in ways other than counting by ones.

Games such as Dominoes, card games or games involving one or two dice will help your child to recognise number patterns. Frequent opportunities to see small numbers represented as patterns, such as on dice, allow children to build strong mental images of the patterns and associated numbers.

A traditional Snakes and ladders game can assist with pattern recognition if played with a pair of dice. To simplify the game you might start with a single die. Changing the die to one that has numbers will help your child read and recognise numbers. If you play with two dice, addition can be reinforced.