Qualities Young Children Have That Can Help Them to Learn Math

There are many parents that can get over the hurdle in themselves of disliking or not respecting math. There are also some parents that have never felt this way about math.

For some parents, the next hurdle in helping your child learn math; is understanding that your child can learn math. Your child does have the ability to learn math. Just because your child may be doing poorly right now does not mean that they will continue to do poorly. Most-if not-all children posses certain qualities that can act as an excellent foundation to build a great mathematical learning career upon.

The first quality children have that gives them the potential to be excellent mathematicians is imagination. According to http://www.wordnet.princeton.com; Imagination is the "formation of a mental image of something that is not perceived as real and is not present to the senses."

Children have a great ability to understand vague concepts. They can pretend much better than most adults. For them imagination is akin to reality. Pretend games like grocery store; or toy store will be fun and vivid for young children. Shape and color games will work very well for them as an introduction to algebraic concepts.

The second quality children have that gives them the potential to be excellent mathematicians is curiosity. Children love to ask questions. They also wonder "why?" all the time.

Many children's books focus around how the character solved a problem. Mathematical problems are no different. Many kids will want to know why they can only buy one ice cream and not two. They will want to know how much salt is too much salt in a recipe. They will want to understand numbers and measurements; and what they mean.

The third quality children have that gives them the potential to be excellent mathematicians is organization. Most children are natural organizers. They love to put things in boxes. They love to determine what categories things should go in. They love to understand size and dimension in the form of blocks, toys and puzzles. Children love to group things by colors and feel.

These ideas are great introductions and preparations for the study of algebra and more complex mathematics; because they involve studying shapes, sizes and measuring things for building etc. Children are naturally curious about these concepts. They may not be able to understand them completely yet; but introducing them to these concepts at an early age; will make them excited about studying them later.

This is much like preparing a preschooler for elementary school. Many parents begin elementary school preparation at a very young age; telling their child how much he will "enjoy going to school;" and "love his teachers;" and study "big boy subjects."

By the time elementary school rolls around; many children will still be somewhat scared and anxious. But, there is always some part of them that is excited because of this preparation. Parents can do the same thing with math.

The fourth quality children have that gives them the potential to be excellent mathematicians is desire and greed.

Let's face it. Many children can be very greedy and selfish. They want all the toys; and they want all the candy. Many young children want it all; and they want it now. As a parent; it is your place to encourage principles of sharing and camaraderie. But, you can also take advantage of the greedy, desirous nature in children to teach them about numbers and amounts.

The last quality children have that gives them the potential to be excellent mathematicians is mimicking adult behavior. Children will want to mimic the many ways in which you employ math in your life.