Our number system is a cultural inheritance for children and can be explored through purposeful experiences including daily routines. In Kōwhiti Whakapae, the terms ‘objects’ and ‘quantities’ are consistently used to highlight that objects are discrete (can be counted) and quantities are ‘continuous’ (can be measured such as length, volume, and time). Measurement during playful activities involves comparison or simple counting of informal measures, e.g. “there are three cups of water in our bucket”.
Numbers and counting are used in different contexts to communicate interest and relative value, e.g. “I’m four”. Number, such as counting numbers or patterns, can be played with and used in games, stories, songs, and other social routines.
Exploratory experiences in number might involve children organising collections of objects by sorting into groups, arranging the groups of objects (e.g. in lines, pairs or other arrangements), and sometimes counting ‘how many’ are in a group. When objects are arranged in recognisable patterns (based on visual structure), such as the patterns on dice or dominoes, then children can start to recognise the smaller numbers without having to count each dot. This is known as ‘subitising’ and over time familiarity with dice patterns help children to recognise the patterns for the first six numbers, without needing to count.
Sorting and grouping collections of objects relates to processes of comparing and noticing similarities and differences, making a connection with statistical ways of making sense of the world. Children’s explorations are also opportunities to represent groups of objects using drawings, diagrams or invented symbols such as dashes, dots, pictures or figures. These invented symbols are representations that may form a coherent pattern for representing different quantities or numbers of objects and can connect with conventional maths symbols at a time when it is meaningful for children.
