Math Talk Ideas with Infants!

To spark interest about math, is in fact much more important than learning a particular ‘math concept’ at a particular age. Remember that math is a process and your child will get there.  Always:

• Model a positive attitude toward math. This sends the message to your baby that math is important and can be fun.
• Process Praise your baby’s effort, focusing on what s/he is doing (“ I can see your are trying hard to reach out to your square shaped rattle!” or “You gave me exactly two things. Good job!”), rather than providing person praise, or praising your child’s inherent abilities (“You are so smart!” or “You are born genius!”).
• Start early: Think of it as getting yourselves into the habit of supporting your child’s math development!

For eventually, all children face hard problems—including hard math problems. If they hear a lot of person praise, they may decide that their inability to do the hard problem reflects a lack of ability. In contrast, if they hear a lot of process praise, they are likely to decide that, with effort, they can solve the problem (Kamins & Dweck, 1999; Mueller & Dweck, 1998).

No one knows at exactly what age babies start to benefit from parents’ talk about number and space. However, the fact that, babies are always listening and watching and thereby subconsciously absorbing parental talks and actions, means they are also picking up learning from all the math talking happening from you!