One of the best things you can do with your child to improve their number sense is count.
Count anything and everything!
Once they can count, start from a number other than 1. (For example, 13 or 49)
Count over decades (tens) and centuries (hundreds).
Count in the car, in the house, on a hike, at the pool, in the store, anywhere!
Once your child is proficient in counting forward, count backward!
Counting by twos, fives and tens.
But above all, make it fun! Variety will engage them (and you!).
ALLOW THEM TO STRUGGLE!!
As parents, we want our children to be successful, so we often lend a hand. However, research indicates that the best way to learn is through struggle!
Making mistakes is part of the learning process.
Recent research indicates that true learning only occurs through mistake making.
Being told how to do something, is not conceptual learning, it's procedural! (AND, our brains can only remember a certain number of procedures!)
BUILD PERSEVERANCE!
In an age where everything is as easy as asking 'Alexa', kids need to know that hard work pays off!
Keep positive!
Praise the effort, not the result!
Remind them that making mistakes is actually a good thing!