Maths Foundations

Maths is all around us and it is needed for many aspects of everyday life. Children and sometimes parents, don’t realise how much maths we use each day. It is important that we actively point out numbers, shapes, time, directions and calculations as we see and use them. For example: think of all the maths concepts you might use to make cookies. You might have to buy some of the ingredients before you start, you need to weigh the ingredients, you have to think about how many cookies you need, how long to bake them for, what shape and size to make them.

For some children, maths seems to come naturally but for others, it can be confusing and difficult. So what can we do to help all children succeed in maths? The key is to build the right foundations early on through practical activities, observation and talk. Maths in the early years should be more about doing than writing sums and getting the right answers. The key skills to develop right from the start are counting, estimation, and partitioning.

The reason some children find maths difficult is that they do not have a strong sense of numbers and can not really picture what different numbers would look like with real objects. If they open a packet of sweets, they have no idea how many sweets there are – 10, 20 or even 100! They look at a room of people or a pot of pencils and they can not guess how many there are. Counting is the place to start. Encourage your child to count anything and everything at home and as they do their normal activities. Count steps, count spaces on a board game, count toys, count plates at the table, count flowers. The list is endless! 

As your child gets good at counting, you can turn it into a guessing game. When you visit a new building, you can ask ‘I wonder how many steps there are?’ Then together you can check. This develops estimation skills. At first, the guess is likely to be completely wrong but over time they will get closer and closer. But remember, estimation is not about getting the exact answer and children need to be helped with this idea. If there are 18 steps then 20 would be a good estimate. Again, you can do this activity anywhere and with anything that can be counted – cars, trees, shells, people. If you are setting the table for dinner, you can encourage your child to check each person has what they need. You could ‘accidentally’ put out 3 bowls on the table when really you need 5 and ask your child how many more you need.

Partitioning is much more than splitting numbers into tens and ones, which we often practise at school. It can involve experimenting with ways to split different numbers into 2 or more groups. You can use counters, cubes, beads, pasta or even pieces of playdough. Pick a number below 10 and ask your child to count out this number of objects. Then their challenge is to split the objects in as many ways as possible. This is the foundation of number bonds and helps children understand the conservation of numbers. That is, the idea that even though we can split a number or arrange the number in different ways it is still the same number. At first, it is more important to verbalise what they are doing, than to record it pictorially or formally. It is also a good way to introduce maths vocabulary. For example, 3 and 4 is the same as 7, or 2 plus 5 equals 7, or 7 take away 1 makes 6. This activity can be extended to any number and rods or straws can be used to represent tens. When children discover the patterns and relationships between numbers themselves through play, they will gain a deeper understanding and memory of number facts. This in turn will lead to confident and successful learners. 

Practical activities are the key to success in maths and should encouraged both at school and at home.