How old are kids when they usually learn to count?

Question

My son turned 3 years old five months ago. My fiance and I have been trying to teach him how to count. We go over it and over it again.....he just does not get it. He will count like this......1,2,7....and that is all we can ever get out of him. We have layed out toys and even cookies to get him to count. But nothing has worked. He is smart enough to carry on conversations in full sentences. He can answer all questions I ask correctly. But I don't get why he can't count.

Should I hire a tutor who is an expert in teaching toddlers to come like 2 times a week??? Or is he too young for that.

NOTE: He does not go to daycare as of right now. I have been a stay at home Mom for 2 months now. But he was in daycare since he was 8 months old. He then went to preschool at 2 years old.

Answer 1

My son loves Thomas the Tank Engine. Since the engines are numbered, we use that as a tool to teach him number recognition and counting. He's very good at recognizing numbers, and while he can rattle off 1-10, he has a little more difficulty actually counting 1-10. I will hold up my fingers and have him count my fingers. In fact, we'll count just about anything - fingers, cars, candies - whatever.

FWIW, our local schools require kindergarteners to be able to count to 25 at the end of the first nine weeks. If your son has just turned three, you have plenty of time.

Turn everyday experiences into learning experiences. If you go to the store, have him count the blue towels (or whatever). I don't think you need to hire a tutor. Keep working with him, and he'll learn it.

Answer 2

There is more to counting than just counting objects....get the actual numbers involved so he has something visual to associate with. Everyday count the days on a calendar up to the date in question. I know it is cliche, but get Sesame Street videos with number songs. Music is very powerful when it comes to kids learning. Count outloud to time things like "Brush your teeth for 30 seconds while mommy counts" If you repeat it often enough he will pick it up. On the other hand if he says 1, 2, 7 and you say no that is not right it is 1, 2, 3, then he is automatically discouraged.

Answer 3

As with a lot of "is my child doing what he's supposed to do" questions a lot of it depends on the individual child. I can only give you my experience.

My son is 3 years 7 months old. He could first do 1,2,3 at about 18 months old. He now knows his numbers up to about twenty (although sometimes he says eleventeen instead of 11). He can also do simple addition and subtraction as long as the addition answer isn't above 10, and with subtraction that none of the numbers starts above 10.

I don't think that you should get him a tutor. You're staying at home with him so you'll have lots of opportunity to work with him. Just work numbers into your everyday interactions. We play a game where we guess how many bites are left in his meal and then count each bite to see who was right. We count his markers, the number of steps to his bedroom, how many cookies we bake, etc.

Answer 4

I think every child is different but I do know that I have a 3 yr old and he never went to preschool or anything and he has been counting to 10 since he was about 20 mths. I would think If your kid went to preschool and still cant count, that just doesnt sound right... don't mean to scare you but even though he is intelligent in conversation, he may have a learning disability or something. Perfectly normal kids just sometimes can't learn things unless they are taught one on one.....hope that helps

Answer 5

The easiest way to teach a child to count is stairs and walking. Count the number of stairs in your house as you go up and down or in front of the library and also when you go for a walk count the number of steps it takes to go to the corner or to the local market. Kids need a reason to count and for some reason physical activity seems to work best. Measurement and sharing help too like sharing a glass of milk so now there are 2 or 1 for you and 1 for me with little cookies or crackers. It is not unusual for a child to not be able to count by 3 but there are fun ways to help. Another thing you need to be sure he develops is fine motor skills - get some clay and some Lego's also encourage him to cut out shapes like hearts for valentines, clouds in spring, etc to make his hands strong for writing. The biggest hurdle I found after my children came out of preschool was they had under developed motor skills which made learning to write a challenge. So if you will be home with your child take advantage of playtime as learning time too. Oh, and don't forget to read together and make up new endings to favorite stories to develope reading comprehension. Good Luck!

Answer 6

Maybe he's more of a musical learner.

Try this old Sesame Street clip out on him a few times and make learning fun! Remember that numbers are a concept that is really not relevant to a 3 year old. But if the lyrics to a cool song are numbers, that's relevant! It's worth a shot. Otherwise, talk to your pediatrician since he may be developmentally delayed, in which case you'll need to have different expectations for your son.

Answer 7

relax.
there is nothing wrong with your son. his counting is totally normal. don't go over it and over it. what is your obsession?

Just count yourself when it is natural and normal, and he will learn over time. Don't teach counting. Just do counting.

I don't really remember at what age my kids could count to 10 without the adorable numbers. I know when my kids were each around 5, they would ask me all the time to count to 100. They listened and listened and joined in and counted to 100. Very strange request, I thought, but happy to do it.

Learning to count is just rote memory until the child understands quantity. When you're building towers with him with his blocks, you say - you made a tower two blocks high! you don't ask him to count. don't make learning artificial.

Preschool is stupid for kids your son's age. He doesn't need day care or preschool or a tutor, because kids learn best in the context of a relationship with mommy.

Answer 8

My nephew is 2 1/2 and he can count to 10.

Answer 9

My daughter learned to count to 10 at 18 months. She also learned to count to 10 in Spanish at 18 months from watching Dora.

Answer 10

my son turns 3 next month, and he has the jist of counting. He still makes mistakes every now and again but he can count to twenty w/o a mistake on a good day. Alphabet is a different story tho......