I used sports to teach my son math when he was very young (about 3). Just adding up scores and figuring out how many points the other team needs to catch up gets their mind working and the don’t even realize it. Little online math games (compass learning, I think is one) are great, too.
Chess at 4 is also a good thing (Fritz and Chesster – highly recommended). You’ll be surprised at what they can do that young.
Add-on: Just read TG’s post about math software. I agree – if your kid likes it and learns from it, then great ! Same with reading software.
UCGal’s comments about using peas or other countable objects at the dinner table is spot-on as well. We used to roll a die and eat that many peas, passing the die around the table.
They may not get 2 + 3 = 5 right away, but they can start with
