Zero

The concept of zero (0) is one of those remarkable achievements that seems so obvious---in hindsight. All of math is that way. If you're one of the bright individuals who can figure out one or two rules in math on your own, then congratulations. But that doesn't make you as smart as someone who has been told ten or twenty more rules than you have, discovered by someone else.

Zero simply means "nothing". It's the number that comes before 1, when you haven't even started counting yet.

Zero, in decimal, is a place-holder. It says, "No tens" or "no hundreds" or even "no ones."

In Counting

Start with zero before you count one. This will help the child understand that zero comes before one. It will also help when you count things that aren't there. "How many dogs are there? 0, 1, 2, 3. 3 dogs! How many balloons are there? 0. 0 balloons!"

Problem Solving

Children should feel confident saying "zero" to questions where there is no members of the set. At first, it sounds like a trick question to them when you show them a picture of dogs and ask, "How many clowns are there?" But they'll grow to enjoy the "trick".