The 'Tiny Polka Dot' game: an approachable, fun way to learn about numbers (~2-7 year olds)

Pretty much all your foundational concepts rolled up into a cute game of cards

Thanks to Oz, our house is pretty full of lots of different theoretical and practical books about teaching math(s). I haven’t had the headspace to read most of these, and may never! But one tool I have found super approachable and even enjoyable has been “Tiny Polka Dot”: a little box of cards with colorful polka dots, numbered 0-10, arranged in various configurations.

The cards come with a number of different games, aimed at kids ~2-7. The games can carry kids along quite an extensive journey in understanding some core principles in maths: learning the numerical symbols, orders of numbers, counting, understanding that a “number of objects” can be displayed differently and still represent the same number, and conceptualizing addition and subtraction.

I find it’s something I can do with my 3 and 5 year old together (often not possible when homeschooling!), and it is something that we can just whip out quickly when they’re wanting some parental attention. It’s also relatively fun for me because it’s a game, in a way that a lot of other approaches are not.

I recommend this as a resource if you’re wanting to get started on teaching your kiddos some core principles of numbers, and want something very efficient and approachable: you probably won’t spend more than 5-10 minutes at a time, but in that time they’ll be exposed to what are some pretty hefty concepts, all wrapped up in a very cute package!