Number Sense
Number sense is the ability to understand the quantity of a set and the name associated with that quantity. Number is an abstract concept, and young children tend to think in concrete terms. Thanks to recent research, we now know that infants are sensitive to quantity and can make good quantity comparisons (more than, less than). The transition from this innate, informal number knowledge to a conventional understanding of number sense is a major cognitive development that takes place gradually. It gets to the heart of a complex question: What is number sense? And why is number sense important?
Copyright: Erikson Institute’s Early Math Collaborative. Reprinted from Big Ideas of Early Mathematics: What Teachers of Young Children Need to Know (2014), Pearson Education.
Big Ideas
● The quantity of a small collection can be intuitively perceived without counting.
● Quantity is an attribute of a set of objects and we use numbers to name specific quantities.
● Numbers are used in many ways, some more mathematical than others.
Interested in Book Suggestions?
Browse our favorite children’s books that explore Number Sense.
A New Focus for Familiar Card Games
Here you can download cards and simple-to-learn game ideas to help young children build their understanding of early math concepts such as cardinality and composing and comparing numbers.
Dot Card Transition Activity
Transition time is a great time for mathematizing a daily routine. This dot card transition is a relatively simple routine that builds number sense in a concrete way.
Explore Estimation While Enjoying a Whopper of a Tale!
This book is a delightful way to start a discussion about estimation in the early grades. Is it reasonable that Hugh Thomas caught a million fish?
