Addition with Counters
Three counters and two counters brought together: the first addition, seen and done with your own hands.
Addition with Counters is a Montessori activity for a child aged 4 to 6 years. Area: Early Math. Time: 20 min.
What the activity builds
Discover addition as a MOTION before it's a written operation: two small quantities brought together make a bigger one, and your child checks it by recounting. Meaning comes before symbol, always.
The materials
- About thirty identical counters or pebbles
- Two small mats or placemats, and a third, larger one in the middle
- If your child knows them, the numeral cards 1 through 10
How to do it, step by step
- Place three counters on the left mat, two on the right, and count each group together.
- Say simply, "three and two," then slide the two groups together onto the big mat in the middle.
- Recount the combined pile, moving each counter: "one, two, three, four, five. Three and two makes five."
- Start again with other small quantities, and let your child do the motions.
- If they know the numerals, place the card in front of each group, then in front of the result.
The parent's role
The word "plus" and the plus sign can wait: "three and two" is enough, and it makes sense. What matters is the motion of bringing groups together, repeated dozens of times with different numbers. Don't correct a wrong count, recount together while moving the counters: it's the movement that makes it reliable, not your correction. Show once, then step back.
Safety
Counters large enough not to be swallowed by a younger child passing through. Keep sessions short, stop before boredom, there's no program to finish.
You remain the sole judge of what is right for your child. These activities are offered for educational and recreational purposes: they do not replace medical advice or the guidance of an early childhood professional.
Ways to adapt the activity
- Easier: two and one, with very large pebbles.
- Harder: making ten, with one group given and the other to find.
- Next step: subtracting, by taking part of the pile away and recounting.
Up next
More activities for a 4 to 6 years child.
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