Simple games teach kids mathematical concepts

By Cheryl Clock, Standard Staff
Published June 29, 2010, in The Standard
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2645109

ST. CATHARINES, ONTARIO—It's probably safe to assume the two four-year-olds playing with toy ice cream cones don't know they're learning math.

At first glance, it might not be so obvious to adults either.

That's because math comes disguised as play.

But as they're stacking the coloured scoops of ice cream on top of each other in a room at Rosalind Blauer Centre for Child Care at Brock University, they're learning all sorts of early mathematical concepts.

As little Lauryn Busseri counts each scoop that day care buddy Devon Minor stacks, one by one, on her cone, they're practising numeration skills.

Then, as the skyscraper of all ice cream cones is almost complete, it develops a lean far worse than the Leaning Tower of Pisa and a few scoops tumble to the ground. They've just witnessed subtraction.

Devon grabs them up and puts them on his own cone. But, alas, Lauryn's is still the biggest. His is the smallest.

And with all those scoops, the kids could easily create a pattern by arranging them in colour order.

And here they thought they were just playing.

"Math is everywhere," says Lorrey Arial-Bonilla, training and resource manager at the Early Childhood Community Development Centre (ECCDC).

And it begins long before a child logs in his first addition equation behind a desk in math class.

Research shows that children exposed to early math skills as preschoolers are less likely to struggle with math in later grades, says Arial-Bonilla.

So, to enhance the number skills of younger children in Niagara, the ECCDC and the Kiwanis Clubs of Niagara have teamed up to provide numeracy kits to 150 licensed child care programs in the region. Each kit, the size of a large plastic tub, is filled with toys that teach early math through a technique innate to children — play.

More than 1,000 early childhood educators will be trained over the next two years on how to use the resources.

The Trillium Foundation donated $130,000 for the kits, while the Kiwanis club chipped in $30,000 as well as the volunteer labour to put them all together.

The kits are based on skills from the kindergarten curriculum. And while it's likely all those preschoolers can't even pronounce the adult words given to those skills — data management, probability, spatial sense and geometry — they're learning them through a sort of play osmosis.

Play is a powerful tool, says Jennifer Havens, early learning and childcare program consultant with the ECCDC.

It simplifies an abstract concept like math down to concrete, understandable terms a kid can actually see and touch. And if kids already know what words like addition, subtraction, greater and larger mean before entering school, they'll have a heads-up in kindergarten.

"It's easier to crack the mathematical code when they already have the fundamental language," says Havens.

But it doesn't take special toys to learn about numbers. In fact, Havens encourages parents to look around the house and use whatever's handy for some on-the-spot mathematics.

Here are some of her suggestions:

Number sense and numeration
What it means? Counting forwards and backwards. Quantity, comparing, more or less than, estimating small numbers, exploring Canadian coins, sequencing, addition, subtraction and number relationships.

Activities:

• Number moulds — Take number moulds and push them into playdough or pack them with wet sand for a really cool sensory experience. Put the No. 2 mould on a table and put two bananas next to it. Dip the moulds into paint and use them as stamps.
• Dominoes — Take a handful of dominoes and have children match up the sides with the same number of dots. Younger kids can count the dots, then learn to recognize them by their pattern.
• Stacking cups — Line them up biggest to smallest. Talk about their circle shape. Explore how many red cups filled with water fit into the big blue cup. Ask which cup is the biggest. Use them as paint stamps to make a caterpillar; get the kids to discuss whose caterpillar is biggest. Younger kids can count the circles, older ones can use a measuring tape.

Geometry and Spatial Sense
What it means? Explore, sort and compare two-dimensional objects. Describe them in geometric terms.

Activities:

• Pizza — Using a toy pizza (or even a real one), talk about its shapes — circle, semi-circle, half-moon, triangles. Older kids can learn about fractions — whole, half, quarters. Squeeze in a little data management by taking a poll of who likes pepperoni and who likes just cheese. Compare the data and plot it next to the child's name. How many kids just like pepperoni?

"Children are able to see the work they did collecting the data," says Havens. "It gives them a visual."

Measurement
What it means? Compare and order two or more objects. Use different measurement tools. Build three-dimensional structures.

Activities:

• Food scale — Take a food scale and weigh plastic fruits, vegetables and other play food. Predict which will weigh the most. Explore how many grapes it takes to equal one plastic banana.
• Non-standard measurement — Remember there's more ways to measure an object than using measuring tape. In fact, if you use something a kid understands or can see, it will have more meaning.

One day, Havens was discussing the size of a dinosaur with a bunch of preschoolers. It was 30 metres long.

"They realized because of my voice that 100 feet is really big," she says.

But did they really understand how big it was? Likely not.

So, Havens cut up a spool of paper into foot-long sections. Then, starting at one end of the day care, she laid the strips end to end. By the time she'd laid out 100 strips, they had travelled across to the other end of the day care, up the stairs, and back towards another wall.

"The kids were able to get a visual picture of how big a dinosaur actually was," she says.

For more information on the Early Childhood Community Development Centre visit www.eccdc.org.