Rusty and Rosy Learn with Me Blog

This activity uses simple objects in your home such as dried beans, grapes, candies, toothpicks, etc. to help your child visualize the concept of adding. Begin with three to four beans or other objects. Put them in a pile together on the table or even in your child’s hand. Have him randomly divide the objects […]

“Counting is a foundation for students’ early work with number.  Young children are motivated to count everything from the treats they eat to the stairs they climb, and through their repeated experience with the counting process, they learn many fundamental number concepts…” (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000. Principles and Standards for School Mathematics). […]

As children become familiar with shape, location, and transformations they develop spatial reasoning which helps them understand the world around them. This activity focuses on building vocabulary that describes location.
Choose a visible object in the room. Give a clue about the item using a position word like front, middle, back, over, under, top, behind, beside, […]

As your preschooler or kindergartener becomes familiar with shapes, they lay a foundation for understanding their spatial world and other topics in mathematics, art, science and social studies.
Together, look around the house to find objects that have particular shapes, such as circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles. If you have more than one child that would […]

Sorting is a surprisingly important math skill. In Helping Children Learn Mathematics, Robert Reys writes that “classification not only helps children make some sense of things around them, but also helps them become flexible thinkers. Classifying objects in different ways fosters the development of thinking skills.” Classification skills are prerequisite to any meaningful number work. […]

Having a “sense” of numbers is critical to your child’s future success in math. You can help your child gain this sense by counting sets and recognizing which set (number) is greater than, less than, or equal to another set (number). Try this coin tossing activity to count and recognize numbers.
Take 3 to 5 clean, […]

Geometry offers preschoolers an aspect of mathematical thinking that is different from, but connected to, the world of numbers. Often, a child’s understanding of geometric and spacial concepts exceed their numerical skills. Building on these strengths fosters enthusiasm for mathematics and provides a context in which to develop number and other mathematical concepts.
The following simple […]

Did you know that sorting laundry teaches important early math skills to your preschooler and kindergartener? All you need to do is share this chore and discuss while you sort.
Start talking about the characteristics you pay attention to when you sort laundry. Have your child sort the clothes by color. You might also talk about […]