Number and Comparing sizes in Nursery

Our first topic of the year centred around getting to know ourselves and our immediate community better. In Nursery we have been talking about our bodies and our senses. The Mathematical aspect of this unit is counting our body parts and using language to describe measurable attributes. We measured our height and compared tallest and shortest. We learned songs such as, “10 Fingers 10 Toes and 1 Nose” and “I have Two Eyes to See and One Nose to Smell”. As our final project to demonstrate our understanding; each child made handprints using finger paint. We then counted our fingers as far as we could go…some children counted to 5 others beyond. Together they arranged the handprints according to measurable attributes; big bigger biggest, small smaller and smallest. Through these activities’ the children demonstrated their ability to count sequentially, recognise numerals and use mathematical language to describe attributes.

The children learnt how to count from 1-10 in the classroom, we used some of our toys to practice putting the numbers in the correct order and afterwards took learning outside and played maths games to help them remember their counting skills, ordering the numbers and number recognition. The first game we played the children learnt that we could count all sorts of things; outside we picked up leaves and sticks then counted them to match the number. The second game the children randomly picked a number in the basket and then had to find friends with the same number and stand together, the third game, was number police, the children had to hide and if the teacher found you, you had to count to 10. Lastly for number recognition the children had to slide down and say the number the teacher had in-front of them. The children enjoyed a fun and different way of learning.

Early Years Foundation Stage