
Math from Three to Seven: The Story of a Mathematical Circle for Preschoolers [pdf] - kercker
http://www.msri.org/people/staff/levy/files/MCL/Zvonkin.pdf
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batter
From my own experience (i have 5 year old) what works for us:

\- ikea whiteboard - good if you have intention to work in pairs. starting
from '-', '+' gradually increasing numbers and complexity. Mine likes drawing
and erasing

\- games - tic tac toe (different strategies), checkers just starting, playing
cards (counting numbers, bigger lesser numbers), Battleship paper game

\- diy kits - like on ali express 'diy kids science kits'. They're pretty low
quality but gives general idea of some physics

What doesn't work for us:

\- apps - boring for kid in a long run / questionable impact on eyesight /
he's getting used to games rather then apps

\- toys - like that: [https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Robot-
Activity-Pie...](https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Robot-Activity-
Pieces/dp/B01A5YMCH4) doesn't work in long run

I'd love to hear what else is inspiring kids to learn.

~~~
sephlietz
My 4-year old also has made tremendous progress by playing cards (Go Fish,
Uno, War).

I agree also with your comment on apps, with only one exception:
[https://www.playosmo.com/en/](https://www.playosmo.com/en/). The Numbers,
Tangram, and Words games have been particularly effective.

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dlahoda
Russian-Belarussian original of the book

[http://www.mcnmo.ru/free-
books/zvonkine/zvonkine.pdf](http://www.mcnmo.ru/free-
books/zvonkine/zvonkine.pdf)

[https://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/140340909/](https://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/140340909/)

Any similar books I can buy to guide teaching math my toddler-kid-etc?

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wjnc
Does anyone have tips on how to go about once you've been a few years in math
games with your children (5 and 3)? The thing is that school curriculum math
quickly gets boring for my 5 yr old. Not to strange since playwise we've even
hit upon things like exponents and logarithms (fishes and babies do the
trick). School definitely picks up and offers some additional exercises, but
still.

~~~
defen
> we've even hit upon things like exponents and logarithms (fishes and babies
> do the trick).

Can you explain this part? A quick google search didn't reveal any relevant
games/apps, so the only thing I can think of is that a school of fish can grow
exponentially, and that a baby is the logarithm of an adult :-)

~~~
wjnc
Yeah exactly that, offline. We always play with paper and pencil. Fishes
having babies is the analogy for drawing the first few steps of 2^x. And then
reasoning about that. That went in easier than divisions. Although candy and
cookies really make math more simple to reason about. I've introduced division
and sets by putting candy in bags (again paper and pencil) and the empty set
is trivial for kids. They see 'no cookies' everywhere now. The world is filled
with empty sets.

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nxc18
This seemed interesting. For anyone else who was wondering, the separate girls
and boys math circles was due to circumstance not an idea that girls shouldn't
learn math with boys or in the same environment. This is addressed in the
first page of the girls chapter. I know I had a strong initial impression from
the TOC, but it is worth holding judgment.

I didn't read the whole thing unfortunately, but I do agree with much of the
material at the very beginning - make math interesting and challenging, and
spur creative thinking rather than trying to force kids through a curriculum.

~~~
darkxanthos
Very helpful. Came into comments looking for someone to address the gender
issues.

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Spearchucker
Holy moly what's this obsession with teaching pre-schoolers school stuff? When
do kids just _play_ anymore? I swear in another year or so a startup will
start up that teaches unborn babies calculus while they're still in the womb.

The insanity is saddening. Happily my son who is 6 is oblivious to math but
brilliant at Lego, incredible at drawing, and astoundingly proficient at
laughing. When he eats ice cream he uses his whole face. Love it, love him,
and I wish sometimes he never has to grow up.

~~~
lern_too_spel
The article is about about playing with math. There's no lecturing or grading,
just exploring and trying puzzles.

In that context, your claim is that playing with a knife is just as good as
playing with math, that singing nonsense songs is just as good as singing the
alphabet song. The kid has fun either way, but one style of play will lead to
a kid who is a confident learner, and the other will lead to a kid who gets
frustrated at school and thinks he is not as smart as his peers.

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fluffyllemon
Ah! I had read this years ago and was recently trying to find it again, but
had no luck. I find teaching children mathematics to be quite interesting, and
I'm very delighted that this has crossed paths with me again.

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yread
I've posted this yesterday

[https://www.h-mat.cz/en/hejny-method](https://www.h-mat.cz/en/hejny-method)

and a paper describing it in detail

[http://www.cupress.cuni.cz/ink2_stat/dload.jsp?prezMat=10406...](http://www.cupress.cuni.cz/ink2_stat/dload.jsp?prezMat=104065)

It's somewhat related constructivist (or constructionist?) method of teaching
mathematics that's actually used in some schools.

Would be interesting to hear people's thoughts on that

~~~
batter
sadly not much in english

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yiyus
Although not directly related with the book, I would like to recommend, as an
introduction to basic arithmetic, the youtube videos NJ Wilderberg.

He has very weird and non-standard ideas that you should not take too
seriously, specially if you get into his videos on more advanced stuff, but
his way of teaching basic arithmetic is certainly inspiring.

