Three year old mental maths?

[Hollyxxxx]

My son turned three last month and I’ve noticed he enjoys the concept of numbers, a lot. In the car home from nursery I say to him, if I had five ice lollies and ate two, how many ice lollies would I have left, etc etc, and he gets it right I’d say 99% of the time? Number up to 6 so far. Addition and subtraction. My mother also noticed that he can count things without touching up to about four or five. Is this good for his age? He loves doing these little sums in the car. I’m not pushing him to be good at one thing, it just seems it’s what he is interested in. He also counts up to 150 and can recognise numbers up to 100.

Basically I’m just wondering is this normal or slightly advanced for his age?

Thanks :)

Just want to add I am definitely not pushing him to do these things it’s just his interests!!

Being able to count objects without touching isn't an indication of being ahead unless it's a much higher number than 4/5.
The rest, it's hard to say. I don't think anything stands out massively as being advanced, but bright and enjoys numbers for sure

Ok thank you :)

Yes. For example if we walk down a street he will say look there’s 5 cars so he is recognising amounts of object up until around that sort of number. Didn’t explain that well but yes he certainly loves numbers :) it’s lovely to find out what they like

I’d say pretty advanced for a 3 year old

How can I play games to encourage other areas by using his interest in numbers? He doesn’t do much imaginative play

@Hollyxxxx

Yes. For example if we walk down a street he will say look there’s 5 cars so he is recognising amounts of object up until around that sort of number. Didn’t explain that well but yes he certainly loves numbers :) it’s lovely to find out what they like

That's called subitizing- recognising a quantity without actively counting them. It's a useful skill.

Our friends son has played board games and card games since about 3 and is an absolute whizz at maths now. Plenty of pairs games or dominos. I remember a game we played with him specifically with giraffes and scarves. He's in reception now and plays Catan and ticket to ride and has beaten me plenty!

Any games where you have to earn points to win or things like that, there's loads and loads of games out there!

nrich.maths.org/14004#:~:text=Age%203%20to%207&text=Young%20children%20have%20a%20remarkable,from%20a%20very%20early%20age.
Subitising - fascinating stuff!
The mental adding and subtracting is ahead of many 3 year olds.
One of my godsons was like this. He used house and car numbers from an early age to count on and back, spot patterns and set us challenges. A* in maths and is now an accountant.

Sounds very advanced to me OP

www.nrich.maths.org has lots of good ideas.

The counting numbers up is normal especially if he doesn’t miss the odd number. Counting backwards is advanced and doing the arithmetic is advanced especially if he’s not using fingers. Keep increasing the numbers and play card games etc

Interesting post OP! I have an almost 3 year old who is also the same can count and recognise numbers up to over 200. Gets excited at counting house numbers or spotting speed signs 😆 counting backwards, basic subtraction, addition etc etc. He is also the same with letters. His two favourite things are playing with a numbers jigsaw or some magnetic letters that we have. But he is behind in communication overall. I'm never sure if I should be worried because he seems bright but then isn't speaking in sentences yet 🤷🏻‍♀️

Brilliant!
You should show him a tv show called “number blocks” - he’ll love it and it will further his skills!

Nothing wrong with encouraging an interest in maths!! Has he ever watched NumberBlocks? (sorry if already suggested but not read thread). It's amazing for learning about numbers!!!

@dohdohdoh

Interesting post OP! I have an almost 3 year old who is also the same can count and recognise numbers up to over 200. Gets excited at counting house numbers or spotting speed signs 😆 counting backwards, basic subtraction, addition etc etc. He is also the same with letters. His two favourite things are playing with a numbers jigsaw or some magnetic letters that we have. But he is behind in communication overall. I'm never sure if I should be worried because he seems bright but then isn't speaking in sentences yet 🤷🏻‍♀️

Don't worry about your two year old not speaking in sentences yet... sounds normal to me.

I think that’s pretty advanced for a child that has only just turned three.

There are some lovely games by Orchard Toys that he might enjoy.

Yes it's advanced. My dd was the same at that age. She has ended up with a maths masters degree and now teaches in a secondary school.

My DS was advanced with numbers at three and we got him games like dominoes, ring toss (with different point amounts), a bingo game, snakes and ladders, ludo etc. And he was obsessed with number blocks. He picked up loads from that. We got him multi link cubes and he made the characters and ‘played’ adding and subtracting with them.

My DB is a genius and was doing mental fractions and figured out various geometric concepts at that age to get what he wanted. Eg if mum told him to share out portions of sweets he’d take them out and give everyone the exact numbers & would get stressed out if he had to divide a sweet ‘because they never break equally). He also used sticks and levers in precise ways to get things out of trees. He was also very, very mouthy and difficult. Was talking in full sentences by 2 but had picked up swearing from my brother and so would cuss like a sailor.