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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

What age did your child start to count?

56 replies

LoveMyGirls · 16/09/2007 08:06

Dd2 has been roughing counting for a few months now, i'm just wondering if she is unusal for her age. My dd1 was about 3 when she learnt to count.

TIA

OP posts:

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belgo · 16/09/2007 08:08

how old is dd2?

my dd1 was two and a half and by the time she was three could count to ten in both languages.

dd2 is nearly two and can count to two

fillyjonk · 16/09/2007 08:12

Oh much later, but my kids are notoriously a bit slow...

belgo · 16/09/2007 08:13

I don't think it's really relelvant - it's just something I've concentrated on teaching them.

Neither have a clue about the alphabet.

3sEnough · 16/09/2007 08:14

2 ish for ds and dd1; dd2 we have on camera counting to 20 at 11 months. I was gobsmacked but she had lots of examples from her older siblings.

fillyjonk · 16/09/2007 08:32

otoh they could both do long division by the age on 6 months

but then I did have to beat that into them...

popsycal · 16/09/2007 08:34

ds2 can count but it doesn't mean anything - no conservation of number

LadyMacbeth · 16/09/2007 08:34

DD2 could count to ten when she was about nineteen months. But then she is an extraordinarily gifted and talented child who will probably take the medical world by storm one day. I'm thinking about signing her up for a Mensa test soon.

DD1 was two. I think second children can be quicker as they imitate the older sibling/s. They all roughly catch up in the end though, and I think they aren't really counting just rote learning parrot fashion to begin with.

morningglory · 16/09/2007 08:45

DS could count to 20 before 2.5 years (can't remember exactly when). Didn't mean much to me because counting and numeracy are 2 different concepts (difference between saying the number 10 and recognizing the concept of 10). Ony now at almost 4 that he understands the concept of 1-20 items.

DS knew abc's before a year and a half. Again, didn't mean much to him, just a song. He just enjoyed watching the same 2 sesame street video (one on numbers, and one on the alphabet).

I recommend the Sesame Street videos, if you can get a hold of them here. They are fun and full of great songs (I even find myself singing along!). Some of the clips go back to when I was a toddler (and I'm in my mid 30s!), so they are a trip down memory lane for me.

belgo · 16/09/2007 08:48

my dd1's incentive for learning to count was so that she could specify the number of sweeties/biscuits/chocolates/crisps I gave her[hmm

Original poster

LoveMyGirls · 16/09/2007 08:50

Sounds like she is normal for her age (she was around 19mths when she started saying 2,3,4,6,7 etc) I didn't teach her she just picked it up.

OP posts:

belgo · 16/09/2007 08:53

has she picked up the '5' yet though lol?

3sEnough · 16/09/2007 08:56

Oh - forgot, despite the fact that dd2 is a genius (obviously) ds and dd1 both loved '2' and generally counted me-1, them2, me 3, them 2 - etc, etc - you get the drift.

Wallace · 16/09/2007 08:56

My ds2 can say 1,2,3 and he's 13 months

My ds1 was 18 months when he could count to 10, but he wouldn't have been able to count 10 objects at that age IYSWIM

Pollyanna · 16/09/2007 09:00

dd3 is 2.8 and has been able to count up to 20 for ages, but it hasn't meant anything (she couldn't actually count objects and work out how many there are iyswim) - it was probably just reciting from memory.

I would say in the last month or so she has been able to work out how many of something there is, up to about 10 objects probably.

SleeplessInTheStaceym11House · 16/09/2007 09:03

my dd was a bit odd as could touch count at about 20months.

however i have no views of ds being the same, he cant even be bothered to babble at 10mo!

worriermum · 16/09/2007 09:08

And at what age can they play snakes and ladders? Is this a different concept from counting for them? Need to wonder about SOMETHING to break the tedium of the game...

tortoiseSHELL · 16/09/2007 09:09

I can't really remember. I do remember being astounded when dd, about a month before she was 2, counted to 10 in French. But that was, as said on here, because we'd been doing a little bit with ds1, and she'd just copied. I nearly fell off my chair when she started - we were counting sugar packets, and I said to ds1 - "let's count in french, I'll start you off, un" and a tiny little voice continued "deux, trois..."

By the time it got to christmas she was a bit confused by the nativity, and was saying "un deux trois frankincense myrrh!!!"

I think learning to count was about 16-18 months. But ds2 who is 16 months can't count at all!!! In fact he can't speak.

PippiLangstrump · 16/09/2007 09:11

Miaou · 16/09/2007 09:16

ds1 was 18 months and could count to ten but I was not under any illusion that he knew what it meant!! He is just two now and I think is beginning to understand the concept of what counting actually means rather than just reciting a pattern of words

lisad123 · 16/09/2007 09:24

if i remember right dd was about 18 months. I found a video of dd aged 2 the other day where she said the whole alphabet. Shes now 4 and just started school and know her numbers up to 99. Her teacher is very impressed.

lisad123 · 16/09/2007 09:25

oh and she can count to 15 in spanish very proud mummy here LOL

LIZS · 16/09/2007 09:47

Before 2 , but rote counting is different to understanding numbers and quantities.

amIgoodenough · 16/09/2007 10:01

my ds must be a bit slow on it all then, he is 3 and can count reliably to 6, but only apply to objects up to 4 by sight, 5 by number counting (verbally after 6 comes eleventeen aparently!)

fillyjonk · 16/09/2007 10:03

dp didn't learn to count til he went to school or something utterly obscence

still, this has not held him back from getting a phd and a first in maths from oxford.

ThePigletGuru · 16/09/2007 10:03

DS counts to 3 and he's 17 months, but he's definitely just copying me. Although he always does it when we do repetitive things (climbing stairs, putting balls in a bucket) so I guess the concept is there in his mind.

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