Play is the most useful tool for Numeracy

Educators working with children aged from birth to five years recognise this age group’s unique stage of development. The way young children take in information, make sense of things, understand and learn is not the same as for children of older ages. Promoting opportunities for children to explore, be exposed to and participate in numeracy is an important part of the early childhood years.

‘Numeracy is the capacity, confidence and disposition to use mathematics in daily life. Children bring new mathematical understandings through engaging with problem solving. It is essential that the mathematical ideas with which young children interact are relevant and meaningful in the context of their current lives. Educators require a rich mathematical vocabulary to accurately describe and explain children’s mathematical ideas and to support numeracy development. Spatial sense, structure and pattern, number, measurement, sorting data, connections and exploring the world mathematically are the powerful mathematical ideas children need to become numerate.’ (EYLF, 2009, p. 38)

Numeracy for young children is not:

Counting practice at group times

Formal recognition of shapes and colours

Pasting pre drawn letters or numbers

Numeracy, in a play-based Approach

A play-based curriculum emphasises that children in the early years take in information through open ended play-based experiences with a hands-on approach. Children both indoors and outdoors are surrounded by opportunities for play which promote numeracy.

Play experiences can promote numeracy skills, including Reasoning, Classifying, Grouping, Sorting, Recognising, Distinguishing, Symbolising, Representing.

In our environment we play with numeracy by:

Using numeracy in our pretend play, measuring, sharing out materials, taking turns, playing number games, noticing patterns and shapes, cooking, classifying, building with unit blocks, constructing with collage materials, drawing plans, creating songs and dances…and many more.

Numeracy is meant to be a meaningful and relevant part of everyday life for young children. We want them to build positive messages and attitudes about numeracy. We want them to participate in rich play learning experiences that support and promote and numeracy and all other aspects of their learning.

ACECQA – Early Literacy and Numeracy: Self-Guided Learning Package 2011.