Math from three to seven
by A. K. Zvonkin · first published 2011
13mentions
8recommended by
11HN commenters
2017–2026first – last mentioned
73% recommend27% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Describes a Russian preschool math circle through games and experiments that show how young children's reasoning develops. Its playful, curiosity-driven ideas suit parents and teachers of young kids.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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I bought this book last year and found it really interesting with respect to how children interact with math as their brain develops: Math from Three to Seven [1]. There are a lot of little experiments and games that teach kids basic concepts and show how specific reasoning develops. I'm looking forward to doing some of them with my son in a few years. [1]…
on “Mathematical games interesting to both you and a five-year-old child” ↗Related, "Math from Three to Seven" by Alexander Zvonkin[1] is an excellent book on discussing math with young kids. [1] https://bookstore.ams.org/mcl-5/
on “Conversations with a six-year-old on functional programming” ↗Math from Three to Seven — The Story of a Mathematical Circle for Preschoolers: https://www.msri.org/people/staff/levy/files/MCL/Zvonkin.pdf
on “How to Study Mathematics (2017)” ↗…something like maths to someone who isn't curious or interested. And it is definitely difficult to hook someone's attention. When my children were still babies and quite young I was reading Zvonkin's book, Math from Three to Seven. And when they reached that age I started playing games with them myself to try and introduce these ideas to them. Like Zvonkin I found that one of my kids was more keen than the other... but the only…
on “Learning algebra in my 60s” ↗Math from Three to Seven by Alexander Zvonkin is a great read and example of this. It recounts experiences running a math circle for preschoolers and really highlights the value of play, curiosity, and open exploration. From…
on “All grown-ups were once children, but only few of them remember it” ↗A plug for "Math from Three to Seven: The Story of a Mathematical Circle for Preschoolers" seems warranted here. It has great ideas for fun things to do with kids as well. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/12689040-math-from-th...
on “Show HN: Silly Math Games to Make Learning Fun for K through 3rd Grade” ↗There's a book Math from Three to Seven which may be very relevant. Of course you're talking about more than math. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Math-from-Three-to-Sev...
on “Ask HN: Seeking ideas for preschool/school projects” ↗…in learning to play instruments. Learning piano has been a lot of fun, I have a blast playing simple things with him (he's still young) and learning some of my favorite music. Likewise, after reading "Math from Three to Seven: The Story of a Mathematical Circle for Preschoolers", I've been having a lot of fun getting back into Mathematics because it's fun doing things like this together.
on “You are not dumb, you just lack the prerequisites” ↗6 years ago and 10 years ago, with a few comments: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=Math+from+Three+to+Seven This book and the culture it come from are so influential, that many people who did "enrichment" have already been exposed to many of the activities in the book. Most famous may be the Scratch JR / code.org…
on “Math from Three to Seven” ↗I had two thoughts when I read it. First, I am currently reading Zvonkin's Math from three to seven, and he included an essay where he talks about "language support" when solving math problems. Hypothesis was, that to use language, we often need to process complex rules to use the nuanced meanings of…
on “Where does logical language come from? The social bootstrapping hypothesis” ↗…popular science book but no peer-reviewed paper behind it is a common sign of a particular kind of work. For someone interested in digging deeper on a similar topic, I recently read the Psmiths' review of "Math from Three to Seven" https://www.thepsmiths.com/p/review-math-from-three-to-seven... about Alexander Zvonkin's attempt to teach children more advanced math. He got a group of children together, devised puzzles and experiments…
on “How to raise children with grit (2019)” ↗…get into the genre of self-improvement books, but it seems I like these :-) Even though I am conscious about the fact, that I am applying maybe 10% of the books advice :P Another thing I am reading is Math from three to seven [1], mostly because I would like to discuss math with my 4yo daughter one day, preferably sooner rather than later, because I find math discussions immensely fun :-D Maybe I will even start a math-circle…
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗Ah good find. Macroexpanded: Math from Three to Seven: The Story of a Mathematical Circle for Preschoolers [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17018583 - May 2018 (20 comments) Math from Three to Seven: Chapters One and Three [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8811334…
on “Math from Three to Seven” ↗