The Math Forum sent on a nice site – www.talkaboutmath.org about parents helping children learn math, starting with the basics…counting. There are also some great videos of how and when kids go astray in the beginning.
There are lots of sites for parents on learning math, but I like this one because it breaks down a skill we all take for granted – counting – and breaks it down into it’s constituent steps of learning number names, their order, not counting the same thing twice and knowing when to stop. It’s actually a cool cognitive trick kids learn when you think about it.
I also liked her suggestions for facilitating counting…with games of course.
I was also amused when she said counting has a magical power for kids. I definitely remember going through a counting phase myself. It WAS the coolest thing I knew about at the time.