Messy Maths: A playful, outdoor approach for early years

Product Information

Mathematics should be accessible to all of our students. Providing them with rich and meaningful experiences should follow them throughout their schooling. Providing a messy, relevant and fun experience at a young age should provide them with the tools to go forward confidently. This is a great book for all early years practitioners (activities suited for pupils aged 3-6), offering a wide and comprehensive range of practical activities that will help children with a sound base of mathematical confidence.

Messy Maths by Juliet Robertson eBook | Perlego [PDF] Messy Maths by Juliet Robertson eBook | Perlego

It's a practical book aimed at those who work with children aged 3-6yrs. It covers standard maths expectations but also includes specific chapters on key issues such as "Where's the maths in that?" which considers how to take a child-centre approach to maths outdoors. On a number of occasions in the Outdoor Maths in Primary and Early Years Facebook group, queries have been made about books and resources that exist about outdoor maths. Thus it seemed to make good sense to put these into a blog post for anyone to access. It would be helpful, if you know of others, to get in touch so that the list is kept up-to-date. Robertson states that her professional understanding of how to teach maths has changed completely since working with natural materials outside (natural and man made outside environments- this isn’t a nature book – it is a maths book). In the past she might have still pinned up number signs or shapes to continue in the belief of doing it ‘properly’. Its a fair statement. We have become so used to thinking that maths is only studied if we are dealing with numbers as quantities or recognisable maths symbols. Rooted in Play Grounds for Learning – Outdoor maths learning in local greenspace. Talking about personal impact – a teacher’s view from the Dundee Outdoor Numeracy Project.

Explore the size of the circle made when children hold hands, stretch out and touch each other’s fingertips or huddle together shoulder-to-shoulder. Discuss and explore how the size could be measured. This may include: One of the greatest joys of teaching in the early years is the expectation and freedom to take your young students outdoors, getting them learning through play, and an unwritten rule allowing them to get all messy! Well, it's what young children do, so by providing them with rich, meaningful playful learning experiences should be part of every experiences for them. Giving young children an early and relevant understanding of basic mathematical concepts is critically important. The author recognises the importance of play in early years, and provides practical illustrations as to how we can use these opportunities to introduce the language of, and conceptual understanding of, mathematics.

Messy Maths : A playful, outdoor approach for early years

In September 2019, the early years inspection framework changed, putting an added emphasis on the Intent, Implementation and Impact (3 I’s) of all planned activities that early years practitioners provide in their settings. The book plants a seed and then encourages you to grow it using effective and thought provoking questioning. Pictures illustrate not only the activities described, but also how a range of different outdoor environments enhances children's learning.

What I really like about the book, is that whether I read it as a mother, or as a professional responsible for supporting development within early years, I can see the possibilities to further enhance the experiences of children.

Messy Maths (Foundation Phase) | Ignite Up UK Messy Maths (Foundation Phase) | Ignite Up UK

Use lining up to reinforce key data handling skills. For example, request children make two lines, e.g. those who are wearing green, those who are not wearing green. This creates a human line graph and can be used for counting and discussing differences between the length of each line. Change the attributes each time you go out. Your children will have plenty of suggestions here.Implementation – How do you intend to carry out the activity and what do you need to make it successful for all the children? Time the class to get ready. This can be using a non-standard unit of measurement, such as a song for little children. With older children, this will be using a stopwatch or other timer. Sink play can be a great way of encouraging Messy Maths, the same mathematic areas can be investigated, and children have a fun and engaging learning experience.

Messy Maths: A Playful, Outdoor Approach for Early Years Messy Maths: A Playful, Outdoor Approach for Early Years

In Messy Maths: A Playful, Outdoor Approach for Early Years, Juliet Robertson offers a rich resource of ideas that will inspire you to tap into the endless supply of patterns, textures, colours and quantities of the outdoors and deepen children’s understanding of maths through hands-on experience.In Messy Maths: A Playful, Outdoor Approach for Early Years, Juliet Robertson offers a rich resource of ideas that will inspire you to tap into the endless supply of patterns, textures, colours and quantities of the outdoors and deepen children's understanding of maths through hands-on experience. Juliet believes being outside makes maths real. In the classroom environment, maths can seem disconnected from everyday reality - but real maths is really messy. In her book, Messy Maths: A playful, outdoor approach for early years, Juliet Robertsonoffers early years practitioners a valuable collection of resources and ideas that can support embedding early mathematical skills in a most practical and relevant approach possible. Portioned into 13 chapters, Juliet offers ideas to support teachers in thinking about how to place mathematics into everyday experiences, along with explorations of functions, fractions, time, measurement, patterns, shape and symmetry. Within each chapter Juliet offers tips, ideas and crucial vocabulary that should be used with young learners, accompanied by a collection of images that demonstrate the joy and curiosity experience by children. If a game isn’t going well, ask the children for their ideas about making it better. What rules could be adapted or changed? How can they make the game more exciting?