I've really enjoyed using Ruth Beechick's suggestions in this little booklet for introducing Mathematics to my young children. I think she does an excellent job of explaining how children learn and understand Math. She also lays out a very natural way of encouraging an interest in Math. This little booklet, which can be read rather quickly, also includes activities for learning Math from Pre-K through 3rd grade! In Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum, Laura Berquist recommends using this book for Kindergarten.

Available in a set called The Three R's that also includes A Home Start in Reading and A Strong Start in Language.

If you're looking for a way to liven up your math program or to bring in some painless math review you have to pick up this book. Catholic Math Activities provides dozens of math games that children actually enjoy playing and almost all of them only require dice and simple home-made material. The author makes use of children's interests by revolving the games around things such as baseball cards and animals. What really pleased me about this program is the clever way our Catholic faith was brought into these games. Some of the games revolve around a short story involving our faith, bible stories (e.g. Noah's Ark and 2 by 2) and simple Catholic sayings to name a few.

I was especially delighted that this book provides games for such a wide range of ages and with a text that is simple enough that an older sibling can read the instructions and then go on to play the game with the younger child. Topping off the program are 40 nicely hand-drawn illustrations of saints. Each saint is accompanied with a short biography and math problems which, when solved, give the child information as to how the picture should be colored. This is definitely a new twist on color by number and one that my children have enjoyed.

This delightful picture book introduces many math concepts to preschoolers. We have enjoyed working through concepts such as counting, matching, sorting, sets, and sequencing. The illustrated pages make it fun for my son to discover more, less, and equal, addition and subtraction, geometric solids, and more. For example, matching begins with familiar matching pairs such as handprints, shoes, and earrings. Ideas of more or less begin to take shape as the child ponders such questions as, "Are there enough collars for the puppies?" Sometimes your child may surprise you with an unexpected answer; for example, on a page showing five puppies and three doghouses, my son confidently assured me that "each puppy can have its own house." When I asked him how, he said, "The puppies that are brothers share a house." To him, sharing was not incompatible with the idea of being its "own" house. The book also includes a few games. My son's favorite is a simple game involving counting backward or forward according to the roll of the die and directions on specific spaces. Numbers are incorporated into the book in other clever ways; for example, each page number is illustrated by a string of the appropriate number of items. See if your child notices. Near the end is a section of BIG numbers, which all my children have enjoyed. This book does an unusually good job of combining attractive photographs with questions designed to lead the child to discover math concepts.