Counting Every Day

Recently a question was posed on Facebook regarding counting with small children.

I came up with a few dozen simple ways we sneak counting into our routine.

I actually start when the babies are born.  While I dress them they usually dislike being 'held down'; Because to a small squirmy infant finally freed of their 9 month 'prison'  ANY down time is the end of the world!

Of course I sing songs, give them toys, and plenty of other tricks, but I found with my oldest and now my youngest that telling them they can go play as soon as I finish 3 snaps, then counting the snaps, "One snap!  Two...almost, there 3, all done!"  worked very well.

The trouble comes when you accidentally snap the thing wrong and then you have to start over, these two kids know full well you are counting wrong if you go back to one.

Sometime after infancy, but before they started reading, I decided to add in counting other ways.  I simple woke each day with a goal of counting something.  Sometimes I got it taken care of while lazing in bed with my daughter giggly beside me, other days it was bedtime before I remembered.

We counted anything but not everything.  We started with things less than 3, then moved all the way up to 5, then to 10, and now with Baby Girl we are on anything up to 20.  (Little One still pretty much just gets her snaps counted)

Here is a short list of things we could count as we go through our day:
Snuggled in bed: Fingers, Toes, noses, eyes, ears
Getting ready for the day: Socks, shoes, pants, shirts, sleeves, buttons on clothing, snaps
Breakfast time: Pieces of toast, or eggs, slices of apple, forks for the table, or plates, cups,
Chores: Toys left out last night, books to read, baskets of laundry
Socks as we sort, or towels as we fold
Beds in the room (or in the house), chairs in the kitchen, pillows on the couch
Worksheets: Pencils to draw, or crayons, or papers for everyone, squares drawn, sides on a triangle
Lunch time: Flags with red (on the wall map) green countries in Africa or islands in Hawaii
Nap time: Teddy bears on the bed, Kisses, hugs
Park: pine cones, acorns, slides, swings
Library: Books to return, books to take out, computers
Scouts:  Girls in the troop, boys in the den, siblings in the nursery
Bed: Toothbrushes, teeth, lips

Like I said, we don't count ALL of those, that would drive me batty.  But we do count at least one of them every day. As the children grow older we start counting things for multiple people, so if there are 3 kids at breakfast, how many noses?  How many eyes?  How many fingers?  Or count all the forks as we put the dishes away...or all the silverware.

Or we might try some 'Family problems'  Meaning I ask
Baby Girl "How many kids at the table?"  5
Little Man, "How many hands?"  5 * 2 = 10
Princess, "How many fingers?" 5 * 10 = 50
Dude "What do you get if you multiply all of those numbers together?" 5*10*50 = 2500