Introducing Your Preschooler to Addition

Many parents feel rather confident in teaching their child early mathematics skills such as the basics of number recognition, one to one correspondence in counting, sorting activities, and knowledge of shapes.  But…what about addition and subtraction?  I once taught with a teacher who frequently complained about the difficulties of addition and subtraction for her third graders, stating that those concepts were introduced far to early in their schooling.  While I do not doubt that third graders struggle with addition and subtraction (some of my stidents certainly did), I also do believe that exposure to such skills begins at a very young age, even as young an preschool, before children may even have mastered one to one correspondence, and this exposure can influence enthusiasm and ease of learning as children get older.

Here is a simple and very easy to prepare activity that introduces addition and subtraction to preschoolers.  Supplies needed are some sort of counting manipulative and a deck of numbered cards.  (I used Uno cards).

Begin by having your child draw on card from the deck and identify the number. Using the manipulative set forth, invite your child to count to the number on the card.  Then, for extra practice, I have William count the manipulative pieces one more time.

I then asked William to draw a second card.  He identified the name of the number: 2.  We placed it on the opposite side of the mat and then I asked William to take two pieces away from the five.

Our conversation then went something like this:

Me: You took two counters away from the five you had.  How many are left now?

William: (Counting the remaining), Five.

Here it is again, step by step, with more pictures. 

Try the same kind of activity with addition.

1. Draw a card and count the manipulative.

2.  Draw a second card and place it on the opposite side of the mat.

3. Count the  number of the first card, then keep counting until the number on the second card has been reached.

4. Remove the first card so only the second card (with the total) is showing.

5. Count the manipulatives one more time.  It could sound like this:

We started with one piece, but we wanted to have three pieces, so we had to add two.  One plus two gives us three.

I removed a lot of mathematical jargon while talking to William during this activity.  My purpose was to expose William to addition and subtraction concepts and I didn’t want to confuse him  by using words like plus, minus, and equals.  Once we’ve practiced a bit more and solidified these beginning addition and subtraction concepts, I’ll start using more mathematical language.

Try this activity with your preschooler.  Even is he has not mastered number identification or one to one correspondence, your help and modeling in this activity is excellent exposure to addition and subtraction concepts.  I was pleasantly surprised at how long this activity kept William’s attention, which not only leads me to believe that he is ready to learn such skills (with my guidance), but that preschoolers are capable of learning rather difficult concepts if broken down into manageable concepts to practice.

Addition for 5-6 year olds

If your child is aged 5-6 years then they are learning how to combine two groups together to model addition. Formal number sentences with the addition sign is not introduced until the second year of schooling. At this age children are encouraged to draw pictures to represent maths problems.

·         At home sing with your child and use counting rhymes. The melody makes it easier for children to retain. This also reinforces the characteristics of numbers before students are asked to add them.

·         Look for numbers in your local area or while travelling in the car, for example count how many blue cars, how many motorbikes and then ask them to find the total.

·         Encourage children to use their knowledge of addition when serving food onto plates or collecting items in the grocery store, for example can you get us 5 red apples? Can you add 3 more bananas to the bag? How many bananas do we have now?

Addition

Addition is bringing two or more numbers (or things) together to make a new total.

Here 1 ball is added to 1 ball to make 2 balls:
Using Numbers it is:		1 + 1 = 2
And in words it is:		"One plus one equals two"

Example: If you add 2 and 3 you get 5. You would write it like this:

2 + 3 = 5= 7  

Swapping Places

Swapping the position of the numbers you are adding still gets the same result!

3 + 2 = 5
... also ...
2 + 3 = 5

More Examples:

5 + 1 = 1 + 5 = 6

7 + 11 = 11 + 7 = 18

4 + 100 = 100 + 4 = 104

Addition Table

You can also "look up" answers for simple addition using the Addition Table (but it is really best to learn to remember the answers).
Example: Find 3 + 5 ·         find the row starting with "3" ·         move along to be under the column "5" ·         and there is the number "8", so 3 + 5 = 8	+ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Larger Numbers: Addition in Columns

To add larger numbers, you can use Column Addition :

Names

Other names for Addition are Sum, Plus, Increase, Total

And the numbers to be added together are called the "Addends":

Steps in addition

 1. Use real, tangible items to demonstrate addition and subtraction. Examples of everyday things include checkers, Lego blocks, clothes and toys. Turn it into a game. For instance, start with 10 building blocks. Get the child to close his eyes and take three away. The child has to work out how many you have taken and how many are left. Reverse and do the same for addition.

2. Introduce the concept of addition and subtraction during everyday events such as shopping and eating. For instance, you could include the child when dividing up cherries. The child can count 20 cherries at the beginning and then subtract five for mom's bowl to leave 15 and so on.

3. Expose the preschooler to games and rhymes relevant to addition and subtraction. For example, the rhyme "There were 10 in the bed and the little one said, 'Roll over, roll over.' So they all rolled over and one fell out. There were nine in the bed and the little one said..." and so on. Another similar rhyme is "10 green bottles," which is popular in the UK. It begins, "10 green bottles standing on the wall, 10 green bottles standing on the wall. If one green bottle should accidentally fall, there'll be nine green bottles standing on the wall..." and so on.

 4. Role-play situations such as shopping to practice simple subtraction. The child is the shopkeeper and you are the shopper, buying three apples that cost $1 each. If you give the child 20 $1 bills, he then has to work out the sum and give you the correct change.

5. Experiment with interactive online math games to practice simple addition and subtraction. For example, fun games include watching numbers fall from the sky. The child must identify two numbers that add up to 10 in order to destroy the numbers before they hit the ground and explode.

Reference:

[1] http://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/addition.html

[2]http://stayathomeeducator.com/introducing-your-preschooler-to-addition-and-subtraction/

[3]http://www.kidspot.com.au/schoolzone//Maths-and-science-Learning-games-Addition-facts-and-learning-games+4250+316+article.htm

[4] http://www.ehow.com/how_7711772_teach-addition-subtraction-preschoolers.html#ixzz2uJcSArte