Muddy Maths! Maths is everywhere. Young children have lots of mathematical experiences everyday and there are many ways to help them begin to develop their skills. Children at the age of two to three years of age are beginning to notice things in their world. How can we make maths fun for our younger children? MUD! Mud for children is intriguing, especially earth and water and how they interact. Most of us might remember making mud pies and thoroughly enjoying it! Mud is a material which stimulates creativity and imagination as it facilitates openended play, communication, collaboration and physical activity. Mud play in particular allows children to connect and interact with the natural world around them. Engaging in mud play at your childcare setting does not need to be expensive: it does not require any costly resources. Making a mud kitchen. Choose a place, if possible a corner area, outside, with walls or fencing to create a cosy and safe area to explore. Using a variety of kitchen and other equipment including pots and pan, utensils, pouring pots and most importantly mud and water. Jan White has published a booklet about the process of making a mud kitchen: www.muddyfaces.co.uk Mud can support children’s mathematical learning journey, and help children to recognise numbers and learn about spaces, shapes and measurements. When children play in the mud kitchen, mixing water and mud, they will start making comparisons between quantities, particularly if supported by an adult. Provide plenty of different bowls, jugs, cups and other containers. Mathematical Links EYFS 22-36 Numbers Selects a small number of objects from group when asked “please give me two spoons” Recites some number in sequence Begins to make comparisons between quantities. Uses some language of quantises, such as more and a lot. Knows that a group of things changes in quantity when something is added or taken away. Learning goal Children count reliably with numbers up to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing. The adult can support the child’s play with counting by simply saying the numbers for each object and encouraging the child to count with you voluntarily when filling up the pots with mud. Describing with the children about the utensils, what they are doing using the language of comparison, bigger, smaller, taller, shorter, wider and narrower. Shape, Space and Measure. 22-36 Notices simple shapes and patterns. Beginning to categorise objects according to properties, such as shape and size. Use the language of size. Early Learning Goal. Children use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and solve problems. They recognise, create and describe patterns. They explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them. Opportunity for children to weigh, measure, compare, count, sort and share with the use of containers, jugs, scales, stones, leaves, sticks. Using words to describe and mathematical words to describe utensils or what they have made e.g. “I want a round jar”! Using everyday words to describe position e.g. “The pot’s behind all the spoons”. Using everyday words to describe capacity and ordering items according to capacity.