World Maths Day offers EYFS practitioners the perfect opportunity to teach young children new vocabulary related to maths and science. After all, maths in the early years is an important stepping stone for children, and learning the necessary words is crucial to ensure children’s success.
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Why do we celebrate World Maths Day in Early Years?
World Maths Day is an excellent EYFS topic. In addition to number recognition, children can learn new mathematical language, such as abstract nouns, verbs with mathematical meaning (e.g. counting, remaining) and superlatives. By introducing World Maths Day activities in class, you can promote a love of mathematics and support communication development.
What is World Maths Day?
World Maths Day, created in 2007, is now one of the most significant educational events in the world. In addition to being an online international mathematics competition, it also promotes maths learning.
The competition is open to all school-age students. Participants play 20 × 60-second games that involve mental maths problems appropriate for each age group. In addition, this competition tests the accuracy and speed of students while competing with students from other parts of the world.
The first World Maths Day took place on 13 March 2007. Two hundred eighty-seven thousand students from 98 countries participated in the inaugural competition.
World Maths Day is so popular that it won a Guinness World Record. The largest maths competition took place on World Maths Day 2010, as 1,204,766 students participated in the celebrations. This year, World Maths Day is taking place on 23 March 2022.
EYFS maths activities for communication and language development
In addition to learning about maths, World Maths Day is the perfect opportunity to teach new vocabulary that children can use in everyday life. The following early years resources encourage reasoning, problem-solving, and scientific literacy and engage children and promote language and communication development.
Here are some activities you could try with your class:
Addition number story
Use Chatta to describe a number story. It could be anything, and you can add numbers together. It could be frogs on a log, cubes in a row, pencils on a table etc. Make a number story: something plus something equals something. Describe your answer with Chatta. E.g. Three frogs on the log. Two frogs get on. Now, there are five frogs on the log.
How many?
For World Maths Day, explore and look for things your students can count.. These can be sticks, stones, toys… even beetles! Count all the things that you can see. Take photographs, record the counting, and describe the process using Chatta. E.g. One, two, three. Three ladybirds.
Practise forming numbers
Assist children in learning numbers through shapes. You can form numbers with playdough or draw numbers using a stick in a sandpit. In addition to learning mathematics through sensory play, children will also learn about sequencing. E.g. We first held the stick. Then we used it to draw the number three in the sand.
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe Rhyme
A great nursery rhyme for counting on World Maths Day is “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe.” Sing the rhyme with the children, record it with Chatta, play it back and even send it home. E.g. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. Three, four knock at the door.
Shapes in the Environment
For World Maths Day, look around the learning environment. Look for 2D shapes that you can find, name and even photograph squares, circles, rectangles, triangles etc. What shape is everything you see, both outside and inside? Use Chatta to describe the shapes you see. E.g. The clock is a circle. The bricks are rectangles.
Lego patterns
Prepare some cards with drawings of colourful blocks on them. Ask the children how many blocks there are on each card. Then, encourage them to reproduce the drawing using LEGO blocks. Take photographs of the process and describe it using Chatta. E.g. We built a tower using six LEGO blocks.
Size order
World Maths Day is an excellent opportunity to order and compare things. You can also ask: “What is bigger?” and “What is smaller?”—sort items by size, from smallest to largest. Describe what you did using Chatta. E.g. The watermelon is the biggest, then the orange, then the kiwi fruit and then the cherry tomato.
Talk about time
Looking at a clock and talking about time is an excellent way for children to learn new vocabulary about time. Take photos of different clocks and ask, “What time is it?”. Use Chatta to record the response and encourage the little ones to listen to and repeat your answer. This will help lay the foundation for telling the time in later years. E.g. It’s four o’clock! It’s quarter past ten.
3D Shapes in the Environment
Look for 3D shapes in your learning environment for World Maths Day. You could see cubes, spheres or pyramids. Take photographs of anything that you spot. Describe and name the shape using Chatta. E.g. Dice are cubes. The balls are spheres.
How many more make 5?
Investigate with counting and trying to make five on World Maths Day. Show the children different groups of things, and ask how many more make five. Record your answers and explanations using Chatta. E.g. Four balls – add one to make five. Three balls – add two to make five.
We hope you enjoy these World Maths Day activities. If you know of any activities we’ve not listed here, tweet us @hellochatta or share your World Maths Day activity in the Chatta community.
You can download the Chatta software and trial it for free by visiting https://app.chattalearning.com
