Developing Early Maths Skills Outdoors

Book excerpt: Developing Early Maths Skills Outdoors provides practitioners with practical planning for how to develop and enhance the outdoor area to facilitate mathematical learning. It includes up to 80 activities to embed each learning experience into daily provision, with dedicated plans to develop specific skills and aspects of mathematics. The activities throughout the book are low cost and easy to set up, aiming to reassure practitioners and give them the confidence to plan more mathematical learning experiences outdoors. This is further supported with planning guidance and resource ideas, as well as advice on observation and assessment, including suggestions for how to reduce the paperwork burden and a useful observation template. The book is divided into sections that represent the different aspects of mathematics and includes: An introduction to each aspect, explaining why it is important, and outlining the fundamental skills and concepts that underpin it; ideas for adult-led and adult-initiated activities that aim to develop children's early mathematical knowledge, skills and understanding; suggestions for how to enhance continuous outdoor provision so that it promotes independent investigation, fostering creative and critical thinking; pointers and tips about teaching mathematics in the early years; ideas for how to involve parents and carers and links to all four British early years curriculum frameworks.