When I browse through WeChat moments, I often find parents asking their children at nursery to do oral arithmetic or spend half an hour or so practising writing out numbers from 1 to 100. Other parents would reply those picture posts a certain level of anxiety about their children’s reaction to this type of learning. For example, many say: “My child’s hands ache after they write for a while and they are reluctant to carry on” or Why can’t my child sit still?” or “My children are not interested in mathematics and don’t learn it particularly well. What should I do?” This brings us to the critical question: how should preschool pupils learn mathematics and what should it be like for them? When taught atpreschool level, mathematics should be designed to help children explore and understand the mathematical and spacial world around them more clearly, through their development of cognitive abilities and a better understanding of their emotions. Influenced by teachers or adults, pupils will perceive, observe, manipulate and inquire about the physical world through all kinds of activities; they will accumulate a great deal of perceptual experience related to mathematics and build basic mathematical concepts and methods. Moreover, they can also develop their own sense of curiosity and confidence through fun mathematical problems and experiences. Prior to entering primary school, most pupils can easily understand the concept of addition and subtraction and are able to add and subtract figures smaller than 10 with the help of material objects. In the nursery, teachers will inspire pupils to discover that plenty of daily problems can be solved by mathematical methods and help them to experience the enjoyment of problem-solving. Pupils can also make use of elementary mathematical skills in their daily routines and activities, which will undoubtedly prepare them for future mathematical learning. However, elementary mathematical study does not refer to forcing your pupils to solve math problems, write or recite numbers. What we should do is to make pupils understand why 2+5=7 or 10-4=6 in more interesting ways. For example, Yuanyuan owns three cars. But he only has two when he gives one to Lili;. You can count floors with your children when walking staircases, or you allow them to press the elevator buttons whenever you take a lift to your own home or friends’ homes. How do you help your children to learn mathematical skills? What adults can do?
Shapes around you We will see plenty of different shapes around us every day. Thus, you can point out shapes along with your children when you find ones that may excite their curiosity. For example, point out to them that traffic lights are round; cabinets are rectangular and vehicle wheels are also round but can be either large or small.
Singing out the numbers
You can choose songs or nursery rhymes related to numbers. Singing or reciting them can consolidate children’s understanding of relations between those numbers.
Reading a calendar
Talk about dates in the calendar with your children. How many days does a week have, or how is the weather on this specific day? Discussion about the calendar is conducive to enhancing their abilities regarding calculation and sequence. Weather topics will help them establish logical thinking prowess by asking them follow-up questions like what kind of clothes they should wear in order to adapt to the changing weather.
Distributing
Children should be given opportunities to assist you to do some distribution work where appropriate, such as giving out desserts, tableware or tissues. The distribution task assigned to them can help them to review the connotation of numbers when they prepare for dinner. For example, they may know that one is for dad; one for mum and another for themselves, totaling three.
Building blocks
Children should be provided with wooden or plastic blocks, or even waste boxes and milk cartons. They can gain a sense of different planes and three-dimensional shapes and learn the relationships between diverse shapes while building with blocks. It will benefit younger children particularly as they gain the ability to understand the concept of size.
Tunnel time You can take advantage of large carton boxes to make a ‘tunnel’ that children can crawl through. It will enable them to better perceive and understand the meaning of space.
Sequencing patterns You can supply your children with different kinds of beans and spaghettis (white and red beans, farfalle, macaroni, fusilli etc.) and lead them to sequence in accordance with patterns. For example, the pattern could be one white bean, two red beans, one white bean…
Comparison of length
You can accompany your children to cut ribbon, paper and knitting wool at home and then compare the length of those materials together, which will aid their understanding of the concept of length.
Doing housework-washing clothes You can invite your children to do housework with you, asking them to classify clothes according to colours and types of them before you put them in the washing machine. For example, they can sort out all pants, socks and coats in separate baskets under your instructions. In order to review the relations between quantitiess and nouns, you may guide them purposefully to give you three coats, a pair of pants or socks.
Outdoor activities You can grasp every opportunity to communicate with your children by using prepositions when you play outdoors. For example, you can say “we are slipping down the slide”, “I am chasing after you” or “you have to keep running forward”. Choosing clothes by themselves Children are allowed to choose what to wear for the next day on weekends. You may ask, “what colour are you going to wear tomorrow?” If they answer “green”, then you can instruct them to find other green objects in their room. If your child is 3-years-old or above, you can add concepts of shapes, patterns and numbers to your instructions. Then, they can attempt to find the corresponding objects around them by observing symbols printed on clothes. Making a chart You can make a chart to count sunny and rainy days with your children if they are 3 or above. Children can attach weather stickers representing sunny or rainy days respectively to the chart and then calculate how many sunny and rainy days occurred during the week once it is finished. This helps them understand the concept of proportions, as they discover whether there are more sunny or rainy days.
