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Mathematics - getting advice

General

Implement evidence-based recommendations around Improving Mathematics in the Early Years and Key Stage 1 | EEF.

Staff to receive training in mathematics approaches used, to ensure a consistent approach. Staff should also be aware of what to expect at each age and stage and understand how children’s Maths skills typically develop, and how to assess this development.

Engage with parents and share activities with them, so that children can use the same approaches out of setting.

Regular tracking and assessment/observation of children’s early maths skills.

Use of concrete resources (e.g. cubes, counters, small toys).

Daily routines and repetition to consolidate learning.

Games/activities for developing early Maths skills:

  • Hold babies’ hands and help them to clap as you sing
  • Sing songs/rhymes with numbers and actions.
  • Give opportunities to explore categories (e.g. different types of spoon, different shapes).
  • Count with children as you do things (e.g. put on their coats or fasten the buttons on their coats).
  • Allow opportunities to make choices between different objects, modelling the language relating to different categories (e.g. colour, size, shape).
  • Activities where children can order or categorise by size, shape, number.

Number

Support understanding and use of numerical concepts/language:

  • Modelling numerical language (big, bigger, small, smaller, more, less, how many, enough )
  • Opportunities for sand/water play e.g. filling containers and transferring water/sand to different containers, which encourage thinking about quantity/amount.
  • Use language such as ‘full’ and ‘empty’ alongside water/sand play.
  • Visual number track in setting and pointed to every time that counting takes place. Make sure number tracks do not have a 0 on them.
  • Ensure that the number tracks also have a visual or physical representation of the number of objects (for example beads hanging from a string underneath).
  • Playing 5 nice things (or 3 nice things) using a numeral dice.
  • Sing lots of number rhymes and particularly focus on ones that use fingers like Tommy Thumb.
  • Use dotty cards to see numbers of dots in different arrangements – have a dotty bag full of dotty cards.
  • Magic boxes. Different amounts of things in a range of boxes – shake the boxes guess what’s in and how many and get them out and count them, naming each object as you count e.g. one ball, two balls etc.
  • Use a 5 frame and play 5 nice things and expand to a 10 frame when the children are ready.
  • Have dots on plates and numerals on others and have children find their dotty/numeral partner.
  • Play dominoes.
  • Play simple track games – firstly without numbers and collecting things as they move along.
  • Use ten frames for lots of things in the room for example sticker charts, self registration so that children get used to seeing things in this way.
  • Go on a numbers in the environment hunt. Collect numbers, get the children to collect them with their parents and also make a number track with them.
  • Make settings number rich environments so children get used to using them all the time.

Opportunities for counting.

  • Model touching/moving objects in order to count
  • Model arranging objects (e.g. into a line) to make counting easier.
  • Chanting with visuals to match words to
  • Building towers and counting blocks as you go.
  • Purposeful counting opportunities (e.g. number of children allowed in an area at once; games that allow counting such as Hide and Seek).
  • Regularly singing counting songs (e.g. 3 cheeky monkeys, 3 little men in a flying saucer, 10 green bottles).
  • Hear children count individually often to look for any common mistakes.
  • Annunciate the numerals well (be sure to pronounce fourteen and forty differently and clearly).
  • Provide lots of opportunities for counting and do it using different senses including hearing (counting sounds, counting claps, counting sounds which are unseen like dropping cubes in a sounds tin).
  • BBC radio counting games and songs.
  • Link movements to counting as much as you can – explore books like the Eric Carle books as a link.

Encourage recognition of graphical representation of numbers (matching number cards). Display number lines in the environment.

Encourage subitising (recognising small numbers of objects without counting). Offer subitising games and activities using visual picture cards/small numbers of objects.

Encourage use of numeracy in roleplay activities.

(e.g. coins at the supermarket, tickets for a bus).

Shape, space and measure:

  • Give babies and young children opportunities to play and find out what their hands and feet can do.  Encourage this by providing toys of interest, cause and effect toys.
  • Opportunities to play with puzzles where pieces go into matching
  • Point out and label different shapes in the environment; complete shape hunts where children have to find and sort.
  • Provide different sizes and shapes of containers (e.g. role play, sand and water play) so that children can experiment with quantities and measures and find where things.

Opportunities for filling and emptying.

Play games that involve children positioning themselves or objects (e.g. inside, behind, on top etc.). Adults use and model this vocabulary as they play.

Copy box games (one box contains a set of objects, child to collect the same objects).

Activities/games involving looking for or recognising patterns; provide collections of interesting things for children to sort and label in their play.

Identifying times of day – morning, afternoon etc.

Help children with finger control with lots of finger gym, dough disco etc and also finger mazes available on website: YouTube (look for Kindergarten ideas).