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Teaching math to young kids who don’t know how to read, write, or count is a complicated task. Providing these kids with mathematical enrichment seems like an even more daunting task. Unfortunately, the vast majority of math materials for young kids involve colorful pictures, games, and activities without real mathematical substance. Sure, knowing the names of shapes is important and receiving prizes for this knowledge is fun, but it doesn’t require too much thinking. A more sophisticated but still age appropriate activity would require giving a child three pencils and asking her to place them on a table so that none of the erasers touch the table (the pencils cannot be made to stand vertically). Solving this problem requires the application of three dimensional spatial reasoning, an important long-term skill.
This type of activity has been the cornerstone of elite Eastern European preschool math programs, and until recently was not widely available in the English-speaking world. The recent translation and publication of Alexander Zvonkin’s unique book, Math from Three to Seven: The Story of a Mathematical Circle for Preschoolers, changes that. This memoir gives an in-depth view of a two year math circle that Zvonkin, a professional research mathematician, ran for a group of kids ages three to seven. It meticulously describes every session and reveals a world of problems and activities far beyond the confines of the regular preschool curriculum. Perhaps as valuable as the mathematical content of the book, are the observations and insights that Zvonkin shares with the reader. Anyone interested in math education, not just at the preschool level, will learn a great deal from this one-of-a-kind work. Once you read this, you will be prepared to start your own enrichment program.
