Counting

How many stars do you think are in the sky? How many fingers are on your hand? How many cookies are on the plate? That little question you feel inside, the one that wants to know “how many,” that’s me. Before people even had words for numbers, they still knew me. They could look at a forest and see one wolf or a whole pack of them. They could find one yummy berry or a whole bush full of them. I am the tiny voice inside your head that asks, “Is there enough?” or “How many more do we need?”. I help you see the world in ones, twos, and lots and lots. It’s so nice to meet you. I am Counting.

A very, very long time ago, maybe even 20,000 years ago during the Stone Age, people would scratch lines on bones to keep track of me. One little scratch for each day that passed, or for each big animal they saw. It was their special way of remembering. Thousands of years later, around 8,000 BCE in a place called Mesopotamia, farmers used tiny clay shapes to help them. A little clay cone might mean one jar of grain, and a clay sphere might mean a bigger basket of it. Then, in ancient Egypt around 3,000 BCE, people started drawing pictures for numbers. A simple line was one, but a picture of a beautiful flower meant one thousand. The numbers you use every day are extra special. They were invented in India over 1,500 years ago. The most amazing part of their idea was the number zero. Zero was like a superhero. It made it easy to write down really big numbers like 10 or 100, which was very tricky to do before.

Today, I am everywhere you look. I am in the numbers on a clock that tell you when it’s time to play. I am in the recipe that tells your grown-up how many cups of flour to use for a yummy cake. I help scientists launch rockets all the way to the moon, and I help you share your toys fairly with a friend so everyone gets a turn. Every time you play a board game and move your piece, build with blocks and see how tall your tower is, or sing a song with a steady beat, I am there with you. I am your partner in exploring, creating, and understanding everything around you. With me, you can always figure out just how many.