Video: Everyday Fun with Spatial Awareness

Research finds that having a strong foundation in early math can lead to higher achievement in both math and reading later in school. Starting from birth, babies begin to develop spatial awareness as they observe and interact with the world around them. Spatial awareness is the child's ability to notice and understand spatial relations - the position of objects and people in relation to other things. You can help your child develop spatial awareness by using language that describes how objects fit and move in relation to one another.

From birth to five, children develop spatial relations skills as they explore and learn to talk about :

• Shape and size—noticing, describing and comparing shapes and sizes of objects
• Space and position—recognizing where a person or object is in relation to other people and objects, understanding concepts like “on top of” or “under,” and putting objects together in different ways
• Direction and movement—following and predicting the path of a moving object, like a rolling ball

Watch the video or download our handout with fun activities designed to support young children’s growing knowledge of spatial awareness from birth to 5. This is a part of a series of videos Too Small to Fail developed with ZERO TO THREE highlighting the foundation of early math skills in the first five years of life, and fun, everyday activities parents and caregivers can use to support this learning.