Review: Help Your Child Learn to Count, Read, and Add!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 3, 2013
This little book is more than just "one more counting book" for kids. In this journey, the numbers go from one to twenty, rather than stopping at ten. But even more significant, the numbers of things from the early pages must be added together to get the correct numbers for the later pages. By including simple addition in the book, older young children will be getting a head start on their future classmates. While some children may be boasting they can count to ten, your child will be able to add numbers and arrive at the correct sum!An example from the book may be its best advertisement. For the number five, the text reads: "Two dragonflies are zipping around, trying to find the way to down. If three others stop to ask where they're going, how many dragonflies have their wings flowing?" Later, for the number eleven, the text says: "Remember those six frogs near the shore? So much jumping made them all bored. When the five dragonflies came zipping by, how many insects and frogs said hi?" First the child had to add 2+3=5 to find the correct number of dragonflies. Then, the child had to add those five dragonflies to six frogs to learn 5+6=11. The problems grow more complex as the book goes along. For the number seventeen, we read: "Our three birds have spotted the two worms. Run, run! The seven butterflies are rested, now that they're done. Those five dragonflies have settled down, too. So how many are there in all? Not a few!" This is a more complex addition problem: 3+2+7+5=17.When your child is first introduced to this book, it is unlikely he/she will make it all the way through without significant help from a parent. But each time they go through the book they will become a bit more proficient at addition. Eventually, along with learning to read and count, they will also have learned the basic fundamentals of addition. The head start you give them at this age will keep them ahead of the pack throughout their school years. I shouldn't even have to tell you I recommend this book for anybody who knows of a young pre-school child they would like to help.