As children start using number words, they don’t always have a sense of what those words really mean. We guide children to develop a meaningful number sense by focusing on small numbers in preschool and helping children connect those number words to specific quantities.

We can think of a quantity as a number plus its unit—that is, the numerosity of set that is being counted. Not just “two” but “two shoes” or “two paintbrushes.” Adults can use language to describe how many of what we are seeing as we share attention to small numbers with a child. And, math-focused books are one the best ways to look at quantities with your child.

When sets of objects are small—one, two, and three—children can recognize the quantity of without counting. Even young children can instantly “see” how many — subitize — when we provide them with pictures, photos, and real-life sets and ask the question, “how many do you see?” The more opportunities children have, the more they develop this math lens for seeing small numbers everywhere!

He aquí tres libros que pueden promover la conversación sobre pequeños conjuntos de una, dos y tres cosas. Cuando se trata de explorar las palabras numéricas, las tarjetas de actividades para descargar en casa, como éstas, pueden ayudar. Escritas tanto en inglés como en español, son una guía para hacer participar a su hijo e hija. Muchos de estos libros están disponibles en formato digital en YouTube. Reproduce el vídeo pero apaga el sonido y lee el libro tú mismo. Recuerda que puedes pausar el vídeo igual que lo harías al leer el libro en papel para hacer preguntas y buscar los numeritos que se mencionan en las historias.