Teaching children to count at home can be a very rewarding experience no matter if they’re very young and just learning their first numbers or older and beginning to solve logic and number recognition problems. There are a wide range of number related games, gadgets and tools for children, but we’ve chosen the best for our list of amazing tools to help your child learn to count.
Gadgets
Recommended for children aged 6 months to 3 years, the Laugh And Learn Smart Stages Laptop ($19.49) is a great early learning tool that will help your child learn to count from the beginning of their learning experience. Your child will learn to recognise numbers, colours and more, plus the Smart Stages technology means that the levels progress as your child grows. Similarly the Chat and Count Smart Phone ($10.79) for children aged 1.5 to 3 years is a great gadget to help your young child learn to count as it includes over 15 number based phone activities, number songs and an animated dog that encourages your child to count with them.
As your child gets older they can progress to the LeapFrog LeapPad 3 Tablet which has a touch screen, parent controls, 4GB memory and is Wi-Fi enabled. This tablet is a great little tool for helping children learn to count and do harder maths as over 50 mathematics based games are available for this device.
Apps and Video Games
Educational apps and video games can be a great way to help your child learn to count and do sums. While all children like to play with physical games, the preference is turning towards electronic games and apps which can sometimes provide a more immersive learning experience. One of the benefits to you is that you often don’t need to supervise your child once they’ve got the hang of these types of games as you would with physical games, so children can play along and learn without your help.
A great app for young children that they can play at home or on the move on your iPhone or iPad is Count TV (iOS $1.99). This app features Sesame Street’s Count Von Count encouraging your child to make number choices by touching the screen before seeing classic counting and number recognition videos featuring their favourite Sesame Street characters.
For older children the Windows game Math Blaster Ages 6-8 ($9.38) is perfect for building their skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication problem solving. This type of classic game makes learning fun for children and they’ll be immersed in completing challenges and solving puzzles.
Children ages 11+ will love Monkey Tales games and Monkey Tales The Valley of The Jackal ($14.95) is no different. This is an exciting adventure game that will help your child with more advanced counting and mathematics skills so they’ll be top of the class in no time.
Toys and Games 
For early counting games, the Smart Snacks Counting Cookies ($16.40) make a great imaginative toy for learning to count. The plastic cookies have numbers on their bases and a corresponding amount of chocolate chips on the top to help children learn to recognise numbers.
For some unusual and fun counting tools, take a look at these Measuring Worms ($13.78) and Bug Counters ($12.24) which you can use to teach your child all about numbers and number recognition by devising your own activities and games. A fun way to do this would be to hide them around the house and ask your child find varying numbers of bugs and worms, or you could use them as a currency in exchange for imaginary cups of tea or food in a play shop.
Finally, for fun board games to help teach your child to count, take a look at One, Two Hoparoo! ($27.54) and Peaceable Kingdom Flippity Frogs ($25.99), which both use frogs as the main characters and aim to help your child to learn to count in a fun and interactive way that they can enjoy without realising that they’re learning.
