Respond

Encourage mokopuna to participate in number or measurement related action songs, chants, poems, or stories, e.g. ‘Five Little Ducks’ (number) or ‘I blew a bubble’ (measurement). Seek ideas from whānau.

Model being playful with numbers in rhyme and games such as introducing very large numbers that amaze and delight mokopuna.

Provide opportunities for mokopuna to notice changes in quantity, e.g. water play with different sized containers to fill, and comparing changing quantities in a sand timer. Comment or ask open-ended questions to support this exploration.

Display materials so that mokopuna are prompted to notice and rearrange small groups of objects, e.g. three small bowls: the first filled with four blocks, the second filled with four plastic animals, the third filled with four shells.

Provide number-rich experiences such as storybooks, rhyme, waiata, and cooking that respond to children’s interests.

Use language, gestures and images that respond to the interest children show in number, number patterns and quantities, e.g. hand gestures to suggest ‘little’, ‘lots’ or ‘more’ as children fill cups of water at kai time.

Intentionally arrange or group materials that respond to children’s interests, e.g. display dinosaurs by colour, blocks by shape or fabrics by texture. Notice and comment on the way children rearrange or regroup these by number, colour, type etc.

Create opportunities for small groups of children to enjoy number-rich experiences such as story reading, chants, or waiata, e.g. exploring story books that include different cultural ways of expressing number.

Encourage children to share their ideas or gestures that represent number, number patterns or quantities, e.g. “What does tiny look like?” “Can you be enormous?”, “How full do you think this is?”

Draw children’s attention to changes in quantities in their environment, e.g.” The puddle is bigger today from all the rain.”

Intentionally group materials so that there are sufficient quantities for children to enjoy working alongside peers to explore and rearrange groups of materials. Draw attention to their actions by verbal commentary or ‘sports-casting’ e.g. “We have put all the small red blocks together over here.”

Encourage mokopuna to notice number patterns in songs, stories and everyday life, e.g. the growing (number) pattern in the ‘Hungry Caterpillar’, ‘Te Anuhe Tino Hiakai' story, pairing plates and cups, or have fun counting the number of ‘steps’ when walking.

Use language playfully to communicate about numbers of objects or measures/ quantities, e.g. counting in “Tahi, rua, toru blast off!” or counting jumps during dance or games.

Use number-related language to compare objects and quantities, such as, “more”, “same”, “heavier”.

Support mokopuna to transform materials by dividing, adding, or changing their size etc. Model and describe sameness and difference, e.g. compare length of rolls of playdough or strands of harakeke when placed side by side.

Provide numerous objects and shapes related to children’s interests that they can combine and divide, e.g. children curious about colour may enjoy combining and dividing colourful magnetic or felt shapes. Children interested in family play may enjoy joining and separating nested bowls or grouping items in bowls.

Draw children’s attention to number patterns relating to their interests, e.g. notice the number of repetitions in the pattern on an insect’s wings, or pairs of legs.

Introduce language to compare objects and quantities related to children's interests, e.g. for children who are curious about insects, introduce words such as small, medium, huge, many, few, smallest, biggest, etc.

Model ways that the structure of a number pattern can provide information needed for a purpose, e.g. arranging shoes into pairs to help find the missing shoe.

Model the use of mathematical language purposefully, e.g. “I wonder why this tree has fewer and smaller apples than the other tree?” Tune into children’s working theories, using maths language to support and extend their thinking.

Provide materials and contexts that encourage group play involving number or measurement, e.g. for digging holes or mountains in the sandpit. Support this through curiosity, questions, wondering etc., to encourage children’s thinking.

Provide sufficient materials for children to work together when creating number patterns or transforming items (dividing, adding, changing size or shape). Ensure there are sufficient loose parts for small groups of children to work together.

Support children to share their perspectives, e.g. wonder together about similarities and differences in the length of leaves, or children’s feet.

Invite children to predict and describe number patterns, e.g. pause when reading stories or rhymes such as ‘Ten Apples Up on Top’ so they can notice the number pattern and may predict the next number.

Continue to use playful language when counting and using numbers, e.g. model descriptive language such as “heaps more”, “nearly the same”, “giant steps”. Make-up rhymes or games such as “One, two three - catch a flea. Four, five six - pick up sticks” or “The bubble gets bigger, bigger, bigger – POP!”

Support children to notice number symbols in everyday life and discuss their meaning with them, e.g. tally marks or number symbols on a sunblock chart, numbers on letterboxes, clocks or digital devices.

Provide resources that encourage children to recognise patterns of small numbers of objects, such as the difference between two and three dots on dominoes. Let children incorporate these resources into their everyday play in creative ways.

Encourage mokopuna to predict and describe number patterns through their interests, e.g. mokopuna who enjoy kapa haka may like to organise people into rows.

Notice and provide opportunities for mokopuna to arrange objects in ways that visually make it easy to recognise small numbers without counting them, e.g. lining up paint pots in a row so children can add one brush to each pot.

Comment when mokopuna begin combining and dividing different quantities for a purpose. Use, and extend language over time such as double, triple, etc.

When appropriate, model the use of number structure for a purpose such as arranging objects into groups. Invite mokopuna to share what they notice and how they might find out how many objects there are altogether.

Create opportunities for mokopuna to work together to explore increasingly sophisticated patterns involving small numbers of objects, images or sounds, e.g. designing an animated film that creates moving patterns from small numbers of innate objects.

Support mokopuna to collaborate as they plan and predict number patterns, e.g. “How many might we need?” Provide scaffolding by breaking big challenges down into smaller achievable steps, e.g. “That’s a big job. What could we do first?”

Invite and prompt mokopuna to recognise number symbols in their environment and discuss and debate as they make sense of these, e.g. labels, birthdays, calendars, clocks and in pretend play such as shops.

Create collaborative ways for mokopuna to increase understanding of relative size, number or quantity, e.g. encourage mokopuna to share and test their ideas with each other about the relative size of the hills - perhaps by looking from different angles, examining photos or illustrations and debating ideas.

Draw attention to numbers and number patterns in children’s play and help them use these in innovative ways, e.g. in shopping games, use prompts such as “What could we use for money?”, “Shall we wrap up items in pairs?”

Encourage children to recognise ways that counting, estimating, predicting, measuring, or comparing can be used for a purpose. For example, support children to work out ways of sharing a number of objects fairly, or asking open-ended questions to help children estimate quantity, e.g. “Will that nail be long enough to go through your wood?”, “How many nails will you need?”

Demonstrate the importance of measuring quantities in daily life, e.g. involve children in measuring quantities for cooking or measuring lengths in carpentry. Model the use of formal language, e.g. “One tablespoon. Kotahi te pūnu nui”, “This is 30 centimetres long”.

Create opportunities that require children to group small numbers of objects, e.g. when preparing vegetables for a hangi asking “How many (e hia ngā) kūmera, riwai (potatoes), paukena (pumpkin), kapeti (cabbage) do we need for each hangi whānau pack?”

During play, support mokopuna to explore ways of using number for a purpose, e.g. when making garages for cars encourage mokopuna to explore the number of cars that will fit.

Encourage mokopuna to test their ideas and working theories by estimating, counting, or measuring during an activity, e.g. when building a fort. Use strategies like wondering, open-questions or comments to support this, e.g. “Do you think it will fit? How can you find out?”

Recognise situations when mokopuna confidently use language and symbols to represent number and counting. Plan further opportunities to extend this in meaningful ways, that interest them, while still having fun, e.g. sharing maths thinking in a small group extends to sharing with a larger group.

Initiate opportunities for children to share their thinking when they collaborate over investigations, e.g. support them to discuss how they went about finding how many? or which is larger or smaller? Model and support the language of comparison, e.g. less (iti iho), more (nui atu), smaller (iti rawa), larger (nuianga) etc.

Provide sustained opportunities for children to recognise familiar patterns for small numbers (one to six), so that they recognise the pattern without counting (known as subitising), e.g. playing board games using dice. Initiate conversations with children about how they know the numbers on the sides of the dice.

Identify opportunities where children can combine groups of objects, or share out quantities of objects. Notice their methods for sharing (dividing) equally and invite conversations about how they can tell if objects have been shared fairly or equally.

Invite children to describe or show how they might answer number-related questions, e.g. “How many altogether?”, “How can we divide among three people?”. Open-up opportunities for prediction, for testing out estimations, and reflecting on their decisions with each other.