A quick round of the supermarket shelves is enough to remind us how much we need and use maths skills ('99p per 100g', 'four for £3.00', '10 per cent off', 'reduced by a third').
In the revised Early Years Foundation Stage, Mathematics is divided into two aspects:
- 'Numbers', and
- 'Shape, space and measure'.
Each aspect sets out some 'early learning goals' that a child is expected to reach by the end of Reception year, at the age of five:
'Numbers: children count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing.
'Shape, space and measures: children use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems. They recognise, create and describe patterns. They explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.' (Statutory Framework for the revised Early Years Foundation Stage)
It's a daunting list for any child and does beg the question: is maths hard? While maths does require children to learn difficult concepts, parents, particularly those with their own unhappy memories of maths lessons at school, can be reassured in that:
- many early years maths experts believe the goals are overly ambitious for many five-year-olds
- some of the goals are harder than before (for example, under the previous EYFS, children were expected to be able to count to ten, rather than 20)
- we are all born mathematical, and
- there are lots of fun and practical things that you can do with your child to make maths learning easy.
MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT
Mathematics is a Specific area of learning within the EYFS, which means that maths will feature more prominently in your child's learning from the age of three. By this age, your child will be better able to recognise number and grasp mathematical concepts around counting.
However, we learn about maths from our earliest days. The simple act of stacking bricks will introduce a baby to the ideas of shape, height and size, while rolling a ball across the floor will give them some early understanding of speed.
And despite so many of us saying we're poor at maths, we are, in fact, born with mathematical abilities. We're naturally good at sorting things (babies can discriminate between groups of one, two and three objects), at recognising patterns (such as 10, 20, 30 or 5, 10, 15, 20) and at problem-solving - all essential skills for learning about maths.
The language of maths
The language of maths will help you identify the many mathematical concepts that your child will gradually come to understand in their early years and guide you in how you can help them learn:
Number - one, two, three, a thousand, a million
Order - first, second, third, last, before, after
Shape - square, round, flat, cube
Space - in, on, under, above, below, between, behind, in front
Measure - full/empty, heavier/lighter, bigger/smaller, higher/lower, longer/taller/shorter, wider/narrower, deeper/shallower, faster/slower
Other important words and phrases include: How much/many? Too much/many/little/few. And same/different.
SUPPORTING YOUR CHILD: KEY POINTS
Think of maths not as something you have to sit down quietly and do with your child, pencil in hand, but as a fun and practical activity. Doing sums can be dull, meaningless and turn your child off learning.
- Children learn about maths through their play and daily life. Without 'experiencing' maths, your child will find it very hard to understand mathematical words (quarter, halve, take away) and symbols (3, 5, 8).
- Just as maths permeates adults' lives, so it permeates the play and daily routines of children - from filling tubs with sand (size and capacity) to counting out spoons at lunchtime.
- And just as maths permeates a child's life, so it permeates all areas of learning in the revised EYFS, from physical activity (speed) to learning about dinosaurs (size). Each area of learning also reinforces and complements another. Playing with musical instruments, blocks and clay helps children learn about aspects of maths; conversely, children's maths skills help them make 'better' music, towers and models.
- Maths is about much more than simply counting, adding and measuring. There are some skills that are seen as particularly important in early learning, particularly maths. These are: 'sorting', 'matching', 'finding and making patterns', 'problem-solving' and 'estimating'. Drawing children's attention to what is the 'same' and what is 'different' in everything from patterns on clothes to daily routines will build children's understanding of sorting and matching. To help your child become a problem-solver, set them challenges. Far better to challenge them to work out how many extra plates are needed when relatives come for tea than doing basic sums on paper. And finally a bit of guess work. Guessing helps us to know if we're on the right track; it builds our confidence in using numbers and makes us more likely to arrive at an accurate answer.
- Let your child see you using maths whenever possible by thinking aloud when making calculations and encouraging them to join in as you count. For example, count out fish fingers as you put them on a baking tray or add up your change before you pay for a birthday card.
- There's a lot for children to learn, so don't worry if your child mixes up numbers or misses out some as they count. It's all part of the learning process.
HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILD LEARN ABOUT MATHS
Sing and dance with your baby and continue this throughout early childhood. This will:
help them to become aware of counting, without really thinking about it, and increase their sense of rhythm
- help them to become aware of number names and other mathematical ideas such as sequence (order) and speed
- stimulate the connection in the brain between fingers and numbers - choose counting rhymes with finger actions.
Read and recite rhymes and stories with a mathematical content. These might be books such as those by Sandra Boynton, which are funny and therefore more memorable, but they might be straightforward stories such as The Tiger who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr (HarperCollins) or Shoe Baby by Joyce and Polly Dunbar (Walker Books). This will:
- stimulate children's imagination and make them better able to deal with abstract mathematical concepts
- help them to understand difficult concepts such as time or comparing size or quantity.
Play games such as board games, snap or skittles. These don't need to be expensive or fancy - in fact, you can get your child to help you make them. This will:
- encourage counting and conversation about numbers
- develop children's understanding of 'more' or 'less' and moving backwards and forwards
- encourage turn-taking and
- help them explore strategies for playing games.
Make the most of mathematical conversation with your child when cleaning and tidying. This will:
- enable you to ask questions such as, 'How many?'and 'How many more?'
- give your child plenty of opportunity to match socks, sort shoes or place toys or shopping in the right places
- develop children's understanding of shape and space, for example, when dusting or making the beds.
Take advantage of bedtime, bathtime and other routine times to develop mathematical ideas. This might include:
counting buttons, toes or stairs
- comparing big and little containers in the bath - the heaviness of containers when filled with water
- using a timer when cleaning teeth.
Let your child watch you in the kitchen and help as much as possible in cooking and preparing meals. This might include:
- helping you weigh ingredients
- finding the best size of pot for cooking potatoes
- talking about the temperature for baking a cake
- measuring the amount of water to add to soup
- putting enough water in the kettle to make two cups of tea
- matching a dish to the size and shape of a pizza
- setting the oven timer and counting down to tea time
- ensuring that everyone has a knife, fork and spoon or cup and plate
- pouring glasses of water
- filling plastic bowls and jugs with water.
Use the time when shopping, walking to school or in the park to talk about mathematical ideas. This might include:
- letting babies or toddlers handle items that won't be easily damaged as you put them in the trolley
- drawing attention to numbers and shapes in shops, on packaging, on houses, or on road signs and buses
- riding through puddles on bikes or buggies and noticing the length of the trail left behind
- counting trees, lamp posts or yellow cars
- exploring different kinds of movement in the playground - round and round, back and forth, up and down.
THE REVISED EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets the standards that nurseries, childminders and other early years providers in England must meet to ensure that children develop and learn well and are kept healthy and safe.
The skills, abilities and knowledge that a child is likely to learn in the vital early years, between birth and age five, are divided into seven areas of Learning and Development in the revised EYFS: three Prime and four Specific.
The Prime areas are:
- Physical Development
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development, and
- Communication and Language.
The Specific areas are:
- Literacy
Mathematics
- Understanding the World, and
- Expressive Arts and Design.
All the areas are important and interconnected. However, the Prime areas are seen as fundamental in the earliest years from birth to three, as they support all of children's development and later learning. Without enough of the right kinds of experiences in the Prime areas, children may struggle with their learning, find it difficult to communicate well and their confidence and emotional resilience may be affected.
Importantly, the revised EYFS recognises that children learn through:
- playing
- exploring
- being active
- creating, and
- thinking critically.
It acknowledges too that children develop at their own rate and in their own ways, so 'stages of development' have no fixed age boundaries.