• Enjoyable pre-math activities help children learn math concepts and skills.counting image by Lisa Eastman from Fotolia.com
  
  "Early mathematical concepts develop over the first three years of life, emerging from children's development and through their interactions with the environment," explains Eugene Geist, author of "Children Are Born Mathematicians," in an article for Education.com. Children develop math skills and concepts through regular, enjoyable practice and play, and by using appropriate objects, such as familiar toys. Infants and toddlers have a short attention span, so enjoy pre-math activities with them for as long as they remain happy and focused.
  
  

Nesting Cups

• Use a set of about ten differently colored nesting cups to help infants develop math concepts about color and size. For example, place a small blue cup underneath a larger red one and ask infants to "find the blue cup." This helps infants to learn color discrimination. Infants enjoy building towers with stacking cups, which helps them develop math skills of ordering for size. For toddlers, place the cups in a line and take turns knocking a cup over by rolling a small, soft ball. Challenge toddlers to aim at a specific color or the "biggest cup." Help toddlers develop math skills of ordering for size and number sequencing by challenging them to line up three cups in order of size from smallest to largest. Count them together, touching each cup to develop one-to-one correspondence (the ability to touch one object for each number as they count). Challenge toddlers to order larger numbers of cups as their math skills develop.
  
  

Shape Sorter

• Introduce a shape-sorter toy to help infants develop math concepts of shape discrimination. Let infants explore the toy themselves and also show them how to "post" a shape through the appropriate hole in the shape sorter. For toddlers, place a shape in a cloth bag and challenge them to feel it without seeing what it is. Ask children where they think their shape will fit, for example in the "round" hole or in the "square" hole. This helps toddlers learn about the properties of shapes, for example the number of sides on a triangle. Use the shapes for other pre-math activities, such as printing and cutting out shapes from play dough. Challenge toddlers to count the number of play dough circles or the number of printed triangles to help them develop math skills, such as reciting number names in order.
  
  

Teddies

• Pre-math activities with teddies help children develop math concepts and skills, such as number conservation and one-to-one correspondence. For example, play "Peepo Teddies!" with infants: place a blanket over two teddies and ask infants if they can find the teddies. Let them remove the blanket as you say, "Peepo Teddies!" This helps children develop "object permanence" (awareness that something exists even when it is out of sight) and early awareness of number conservation (two teddies remain as two teddies, even underneath a blanket). For toddlers, a "teddy bears' picnic" helps them develop math skills, such as reciting number names in order and one-to-one correspondence. For example, toddlers choose four teddies and then count out four cups and four plates, giving each teddy a cup and a plate. Challenge toddlers to share out pieces of fruit or biscuits among the teddies.