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TEACHING YOUR BABY THE CONCEPT OF ADDITION
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The most practical and easiest way to start teaching the concept of addition is by using your fingers. Show your baby your right index finger about 10 inches from your baby's face and about two inches from your right eye. Make sure your baby is looking at it. Wiggle your finger three times to get her attention.
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Then say "one" three times and touch your baby's face making one downward stroke, then bring your right hand down to your side. Then say "plus" once, and show your left index finger about two inches from your left eye, and say "one" three times, and again make one downward stroke onto your baby's right side of the face. Bring your left hand down to your side, and say "equals." Wait about two seconds and bring up both of your index fingers together with a space of one inch between them, and say "two." Smile and celebrate. Do one-plus-one four times a day for two or three days, then do one-plus-two. Use the same method with adding one and two fingers up to ten.
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Teaching your baby how to add using the card system is also easy. Get the card with one dot and say "one." Then say "plus two" with your left hand showing the card with two dots. Then say "equals three" showing the card with three dots in front of your baby, and keeping the other two cards out of sight.
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Repeat this exercise one or two more times. Then do one-plus-three following the same procedure. Every three to four days, vary the numbers. For example: 2 plus 4, 3 plus 2, 5 plus 2, etc.
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You can also make a PLUS and EQUALS sign onto cardboards of 8 inches by 8 inches. Use the same red marker pen and make the print one-inch thick and four inches tall.
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You can then do the following: Show the card with one dot with your right hand and say "one" three times; then show the PLUS sign card with your left hand and say "plus" once. Then show the card with two dots with your right hand and say "two" three times. Bring it down and get the EQUALS sign with your left hand and say "equals" once. Then finally show the card with three dots with your right hand and say "three" three times. After the one-plus-two exercise, celebrate by showing how happy or enthusiastic you are.
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Do the addition four times a day or as often as possible without boring your baby. Again, if you notice that your baby is getting sleepy, tired, or bored, stop the game.
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After two to four weeks of addition, do subtraction following the same principle as that of addition. Get the card with five dots, then say "minus three" showing the card with three dots, and say "equals two" showing the card with two dots. Do it at least four times a day for three to four days then go for other combinations of dots.
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The principle involved here is teaching your baby the concept of quantity and not necessarily of numbers. Quantity is universal. Two fingers, or two dots on a card, is seen as two quantities by a baby whether he is in China, Russia, Philippines, Spain, or elsewhere. What is different is the name or label attached or corresponding to the quantity of the dots in the card. The concept of addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division is universal.
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Why does this method work? Because Math is a form of language -- it is the language of counting and quantity. And as such, it is learned the same way children learn how to speak their native language.
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