What research tells us about counting – and what it means for your toddler

Lots of children love counting, they might enjoy the excited responses of people around them, or the rhythm and music of chanting numbers – and researchers found even young toddlers preferred a correct counting sequence to an incorrect one.^[1] But there’s more to understanding numbers and quantity than saying the numbers in order. 

There are several skills involved in understanding numbers and counting, and some your toddler will have had since they were born. Researchers have found that babies have an awareness of quantity from birth – this seems to be quite accurate for small amounts (up to two or three items), and more approximate for larger ones.^[1] 

Mastering ‘symbolic number systems’  

While your toddler has had an awareness of quantity since birth, you can start to see what they understand when they begin to link quantity and symbols.  

In child development, symbols aren’t only written numbers, letters or icons but also spoken words, or gestures.  

When scientists talk about symbolic number systems they are talking about the words and symbols that represent a specific quantity.  

Understanding number words – matching a word and a quantity 

Children develop their understanding of the meaning of number words sequentially – so they will understand one first, then (after some time) two – and so on.^[1] 

Developing understanding of numbers, counting and quantity – five counting principles 

In 1978, psychologists Rochel Gelman and Charles Gallistel outlined five counting principles children need to understand to count successfully – these are still used to understand children’s counting today.^[2] 

Stable order principle – counting starts at one, and numbers are always said in the same order.  

One-to-one principle – one number is used for one item counted (this can take lots of practice to master!).  

Order irrelevance principle – the number of objects will be the same whatever order you count them in.  

Cardinality principle – if you’ve followed the first three principles, the last number you say is the total number of items. 

Abstraction principle – understanding that you can count anything – not just objects but also claps, jumps, syllables in words and more.  

When you look at the list you can see that to understand the first principle your toddler needs lots of practice saying numbers in order.  

Gelman and Gallistel suggested that children understand the importance of the order of numbers when counting from their first, “One, two three, four five!” Other scientists disagree and think that when children first count, they don’t understand that the numbers they are saying have a numerical significance.^[3]   

Even if your toddler doesn’t really understand how the numbers relate to quantities, saying numbers in order is an important step towards understanding counting and amounts.   

You can help your toddler by finding opportunities to count – you could count the stairs, or how many socks are going into the washing machine.  

And don’t forget songs and rhymes can be another brilliant way to practise.  

If your toddler says numbers in the wrong order sometimes, don't worry, simply repeat them correctly and keep giving them lots of opportunities to hear, say and sing numbers in the correct order!  

References: 

[1] Lp, M. H. K., Imuta, K., and Slaughter, V. (2018). ‘Which button will I press? Preference for correctly ordered counting sequences in 18-month-olds'. Dev. Psychol. 54, 1199–1207. doi: 10.1037/dev0000515 

[2] Gelman, R. & Gallistel, C.R. (1978). The child’s understanding of number. Harvard University Press. 

[3] Le Corre, M. & Carey, S. (2008). ‘Why the verbal counting principles are constructed out of representations of small sets of individuals: A reply to Gallistel’. Cognition, 107(2).