Growing Young Minds

Growing Young Minds

28 November 2014

Growing a love for mathematics in early childhood can be supported within a home environment by everyone.  Throughout each day young children are using mathematical ideas and learning about concepts such as counting, measuring, sorting, patterns, numbers, shapes, size and position.

When children start to learn about numbers and counting, they will often count out loud before they understand what the numbers mean.  You can support their understanding by linking counting to meaningful experiences such putting on 1 t-shirt and it goes over 1 head and 2 arms - if the top has buttons, counting the buttons as you fasten them.  When you’re out and about in the community, look at numbers on letterboxes and ask questions such as what number comes before, and what number comes after.

Through play, we can support children to use mathematics for a purpose such as preparing meals.  Children might count out the placemats to set the table, the number of plates required, cutting food into halves or quarters, and placing equal portions onto a plate for everyone.  The whole family can support children to learn about mathematical concepts in everyday activities such as cooking (measuring, portioning), playing sport or games (time and points), shopping (counting out items), building (measuring, matching, size and shape).  You can create your own blocks at home using off-cuts from pruned trees to create a variety of shapes and sizes.

There are many fun ways to learn about mathematics – for more activity ideas visit Nurtured at Home’s facebook page.