Counting is an essential early learning skill. You can help your children gain awareness of numbers and their order, as well as how they relate to objects, by doing activities around the home like:
- Sorting items and then counting the piles: you can use a pack of M&Ms or Skittles or gummies, sort them into color piles, older kids can make a graph, and then you can eat them!
- Asking your child to pick up a certain number of toys and put them away
- Having them help you set the table and count out the number of forks or spoons needed
- Writing out numbers and having them trace and count along so they begin to recognize what each number looks like and that the numbers have a certain order
Bring your child to the library during the week of March 23 for Smart Starts, when our topic will be Counting and the Census. While you’re here, check out some of these books:
Kahlo’s Koalas: 1, 2, 3 Count Art with Me
The 2020 Census – Why It Matters
Grownups, you have an especially important part to play in terms of counting this month! You will receive an official letter from the U.S. Census Bureau in the mail this week or next. It will give you a unique code that is tied to your address, which you can use to fill out the census questionnaire online for everyone who is staying in your home on April 1. The census determines how much federal funding we will receive to pay for important things like roads, hospitals, housing, and schools. If you need any assistance, contact us at the library or visit 2020census.gov for more information.
Thank you for doing your part to make sure that everyone counts!