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Counting stairs is a great way to help your baby or toddler learn counting in a simple, enjoyable, and natural way.

I have recently begun counting stairs with Damien (20 months) and he just loves it, especially when I lift him up and dramatically place him on each stair as I say the number.

You can do this with any set of stairs while you are out and about, or, if you are blessed with having stairs in your own home, you can do it every day!

If you do happen to have stairs in your home, you can add a whole new level to the activity by labeling the stairs with numbers.

Start at the ground level and label it “0”. Then, close to the ground next to each stair, label them starting at 1 all the way to your highest step.

I’ve made this easy with an attractive printable that you might not even mind lining your stairs with:

Count up when you go up the stairs, count backwards when you go down, point to each number as you do!

This will help teach your child:

• Counting forwards
• Counting backwards 
• Numeral recognition
• One-to-one correspondence (that each number represents an object in a group or sequence: in this case, a stair)

Now isn’t that a great and effortless way to turn the mundane task of walking up and down the stairs each day into an opportunity to stimulate your child and help them meaningfully grasp basic mathematical concepts?

Enjoy!

Damien is currently 1 year, 8 months old (20 months)