Book Review: 100 Ways in 100 Days to Teach Your Baby Maths, Emma L. Smith
Nonfiction: 100 Ways in 100 Days to Teach Your Baby Maths, Emma L. Smith
One of my most recent happy moments centers around a video my daughter in law sent, featuring my youngest son (an economics/math major and very introverted) showing his 4 and 5 1/2 year old nieces all the ways to make sets of ten using his fingers; the girls were captivated and eagerly mirrored their uncle’s finger wiggles. I think author Emma Smith would have been pleased at his spontaneous attempt at a Day 60 activity; even though, as Americans we go with math instead of the British maths.
100 Ways in 100 Days to Teach Your Baby Maths shares with parents how intentional language and enjoyable activities create a solid foundation for later math education. Each “Day” starts with a short research nugget that sets the stage for the following parent/baby activity. It is this constant connection to research that sets this book apart from similar parent/baby activity books. There are also frequent motivational quotes to encourage parents to interact in teachable moments with their baby. Many of the activities center on daily routines and require only a brief amount of time and attention to accomplish.
This is not a curriculum for babies. The 100 Days are a way to organize the math concepts for parents in a logical manner; therefore, some of the activities are better for babies in certain stages of development. For instance, Day 33 suggests a baby obstacle course activity which is obviously for babies that have mastered crawling as oppose to a 1 month and 3 day old baby. Indeed, some of the activities can easily stretch through toddlerhood and preschool years.
Many of the activities are time tested classics on both sides of the Atlantic; however, as a resource for new parents, which appears to be the target audience, I wish the book had included either an appendix with the text of the songs, fingerplays, and poems referenced or embedded the lyrics/text directly in the actual activity descriptions. The text for the majority of songs/poems noted are in the common domain and/or copyright free but new parents may not be familiar with all the titles suggested. Perhaps a companion website would be something that could be added with any subsequent edition?
For new parents, grandparents, informal care providers, and introverted uncles, 100 Ways in 100 Days to Teach Your Baby Maths is a solid choice for supporting their baby’s learning in all the development areas, but especially math.
Our thanks to Rachel Gilbey of Rachel’s Random Resources Blog Tours for inviting us to review this book and providing our digital copy of this book in exchange for our honest review. For other perspectives on this book, check out the other participating bloggers on this tour. The opinions here are solely those of Scintilla.
Book Review: 100 Ways in 100 Days to Teach Your Baby Maths, Emma L. Smith
Thank you for taking the time to read my book and for writing such a thorough and lovely review. I am indeed very happy to hear about your son sharing the fun of math with his lucky nieces! A life without math anxiety is so much easier!