My dd3 has a terrible time telling the difference between 6 & 9. She can recongize all other numbers, but this has her stumped. I dont know how to explain it to her. Any idea?? Jill
Considering the average 3 year old has little to no numeral/letter recognition, I'd say don't sweat it. If the usual sorts of "ball on top vs. ball on the bottom" stuff doesn't work, move on to something else. That's just my two cents. I'm sure some of the others moms will have more ideas to use if you choose to pursue this.
Elijah had problems with this also, even in 1st grade, he would get confused. I just keep asking him and then telling him which one was which and one day, "the light bulb came on".
I'd have to agree that 3 is a bit young to be too concerned with this! She'll get it when her brain is ready!
Man i was hoping someone would have advice! Grace is 4 1/2 and on occassion gets them confused. I know it will click one day but hoped all you wise women had some sort of "trick" to help!
Try cutting out the numbers in different sorts of materiales ie sandpaper & carpet & get the child to feel the number the right way up. Make a roll of sweet dough, shape into 6s & 9s, bake & they get to eat them if they get it right. Sometimes you need multi~sensory learning. If you can figure out a way to associate a particular smell with each number as well as a touch sensation it will reinforce it. Sometimes just a sight recognition is not enough for littlies.
Okay, coming from a person who reversed her 3s and 5 s for years, just kindly remind her, make fun with it like "That silly 6 is trying to be a nine again!" Don't stress over it but encourage her to get it right just the same, we found it helped to take the pressure off the child in this situation and talk to teh 'silly numbers or letters' Worked for us!
At that age I would definately not worry about it!! Just like I don't worry about this one.. my now 8 year old can not distinguish.. without great effort anyway, purple and blue. To this day he has to really study something to be able to tell me if it is blue or purple. The eye doctor says he is not color blind, but is just deficient in those color ranges. My father was color blind.. and it can run in the family, so he said it is most likely were it came from. The moral of the story.. don't sweat the small stuff.
I am not sweating it all! I know she will eventually get it. I just want to know if there were any tricks that may help Like for "b" and "d" making a bed with your fists to know the correct way to write them. Something like that. There is no pressure on her. She is simply playing games with mommy and brother. She knows it is a 6 or a 9 and isnt frustrated with herself, she just laughs and says "You guess that one mommy!" So I do! She does very little "school" but this is something that ds5 and her do together. Just thought you may have some tricks! Jill
I don't worry about it at that age, personally, as others have said. But then we don't do formal preschool, my sons "work" for the other day was to sing the alphabet song to me & to have fun playing But for my 6 yo if he is confused I remind him that 9 has a big head and 6 has a big belly.
Here is a quick trick: The 9 has a big head on top because he/she is older and the 6 does not have his/her head on top. You can also say the 6, while having no head on top, has a tummy on his/her bottom. Make up whatever reasons you want for these facts. We started teaching numbers at 4 and 5 and this trick with the 6/9 helped our daughter differentiate them much more easily.
