The combination of enhanced comprehension, tremendous curiosity, and a love of learning triggers a virtuous cycle that supports success and happiness throughout life

“When I first witness a group of amazing, happy, and kind 3, 4, and 5 year olds, all of whom could read, do math, talk about the great artists of the world, speak three languages, play the violin, do gymnastics and have a love of learning that I had never seen before, I knew that I had found something extraordinary,” says Tania Siddiqi, Co-Founder and Curriculum Director of Masterminds Early Learning.

But many questions continued to linger in my mind. Can young children really learn all this? Should they be learning this at such a young age? Are they happy or does this take away from their childhood? Perhaps the most important overarching question was: Why does my child really need all this?

It would take many years for me to find a conclusive answer to this question. During this time, I feel that I went through three s...

This is part one of a two part series about how to teach toddlers math and critical thinking skills. This week we will be discussing the need for toddlers to build a strong math foundation as well as some of the first steps in getting them comfortable with numerals, quantities, and number manipulation.

Math is All Around Us

It has always been important for children to learn math, but it has never been more important than it is today. The world is becoming increasingly digital, and the best jobs are increasingly dependent on understanding how to use technology. Furthermore, the ability to understand quantitative concepts such as logic, probability, and pattern recognition is increasingly important in a world where so much of our information is presented in the form of charts, graphs, and tables.

I always tell my daughters that my favorite thing about math is that it is black and white. Your answer is either correct or incorrect. One plus one is always two- in every language, in every...

What Should I Teach my Toddler?

Perhaps the question should read “What can’t you teach a toddler?”

If your child is anything like mine, you find yourself being asked all sorts of questions on a regular basis- What kind of a dog is that? Why does the wheel make that sound? How do you fix this toy?

If you are anything like me, you might just want to shrug it off and say ‘because’ or ‘I don’t know”. Parenting is exhausting- the cooking, the cleaning, the constant guidance you have to provide. And then comes the phase of the constant questions. You’re tired and all they want is an explanation for every little thing. 

The reality is it takes just as much energy to teach your toddler “That is a golden retriever” as it does to say “I don’t know”. It takes just as much energy to explain “The wheel is squeaky because two parts are rubbing together. We can make it stop by adding some oil” as it does to say “I don’t know. Please stop asking me questions”. Or “We can fix the toy by replacing t...