One-two-three Clap!

 Rhythm--clapping, tapping, stomping--did you know all that fun lays the foundation for doing math? I sure didn't. My friend Marleen Schönthaler, the educator behind most of Davar: Bridging to Literacy, had put rhythm games like
Repeat the Rhythm into Davar Start Games. I thought those games just had something to do with listening and concentrating. 

They do. But they do even more. When you repeat a clear rhythm, you are unconsciously counting. Kids who have never been taught to count can still accurately follow a rhythm like this one:  clap, clap-clap, pause, clap, or even far more complicated ones. This calls for a sense of how many, for a sense of--you guessed it--numbers. It is math preparation.

So while these kids are clearly having fun, if they were following a set pattern they would also be practicing math skills. 

Much more fun than drills like multiplication tables. Though there are Davar games that help with that, too . . . .