Seriation: Getting Your Pumpkins in a Row

This issue of Babybug offers your little one plenty of easy counting opportunities: Kim's oranges, the shoppers in "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo," the windows in "Two Little Houses," or the pumpkins on the cover.

There’s another math skill you might enjoy watching your toddler discover. Maybe your child’s got her pumpkins all lined up from biggest to smallest. If so, you’re witnessing the emergence of seriation.

Seriation is simply the act of ordering objects. Young children usually begin with arranging objects by size. If toddlers see four pumpkins of various sizes, they’ll likely pick out only the largest and the smallest at first. With time, they begin to fill in more sizes.

Arranging things by size builds young children’s understanding of sequence: Which item comes first? Which comes second? Seriation helps children make sense of math by learning to think about information in a systematic way, as well as to understand patterns. Seriation is something adults do automatically, but for young children, it takes time. Toddlers who have just grasped the whole idea of size will find the concept of degrees of size more complicated.

Most understand size seriation best in terms of familiar people—Mommy or Daddy, big sister, and baby, just as in the selection, "Around the Park." But whether it’s with pumpkins or people, seriation, like all concepts new to young children, is learned over time, and through interesting real-life experiences.

Play Together

There are lots of everyday opportunities to explore seriation with your child. As you sort laundry, your child might decide how to arrange three socks from shortest to longest.  Whether it’s seriation or counting, it’s good to keep in mind, the younger the child, the fewer the objects.  

If your child is having fun with the idea of seriation, you can also try these activities:

• Line family members up from tallest to shortest. Start with arranging just one big person and one little person.
• Slice a banana into pieces of varying widths so your child can explore the different sizes.
• Explore not only the sequence of objects, but events. Talk about the order of your day. First we'll have breakfast, then we'll get dressed, then we are going to the store... and as you do these things, say what you're doing and what you'll be doing next.

Read Together

The next time you’re at the library, check out that old classic, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It’s not just a storybook, it’s a math book as well. Children discover the following concepts:

• counting to three
• one-to-one correspondence: three bears for three bowls, three chairs and three beds
• and, of course, size order: big, medium, and small

Babies like picture-reading:
•    Focus your baby’s attention by pointing at the picture. One of the simple, clear pictures on the back of each Babybug is a good starting place.  
•    Then, name the picture or gently ask, “What’s that?”
•    Respond to your baby’s vocalizations.
•    Look for the matching pictures and point them out again as you enjoy this issue together.

Toddlers notice how books work:
•    Point to words that label pictures.
•    Help your toddler turn books right side up, when needed.
•    Lift pages partway to involve your toddler in turning them.