What Comes Before Counting?

Hello!

Did you know that for children to achieve their Early Learning Goal in Number they must be able to 'Subitise up to 5'.

So what is subitising and why is it important?  Check out this blog to find out more!

Vicki x

How many sheep are in the picture above?  Did you have to count them or did you just know?  Chances are you were able to quickly look at the picture and say there are four sheep (unless you look closely at the background!) - that is because you used the skill of subitising!

To understand more, I suggest you download my FREE Guide to Subitising and take a watch of this video from the Queen of Subitising - Karen Wilding.

As Karen explains in the video, it is really easy to encourage children to practice their skills of subitising through everyday activities and noticing what is around them but you may find that your child is tempted to use counting instead, as often this is the method they may have picked up from adults around them.  If this is the case then I recommend explaining subitising to them and modelling doing it yourself.  You will usually find that your child is already able to subitise small amounts - they just didn't necessarily know they could and that they should!  When you catch them counting then you can stop them and say to them - do you need to count or could you subitise?

The Primary Steps Blog is written by Victoria Yadav, a Child Development and Early Years Expert.  Vicki helps parents of 2-6 year olds us playful and developmentally appropriate techniques to build strong foundations for the future.