Nursery World - Book extract - Falling into line

In extracts taken from her new book, Di Chilvers considers how children’s mathematical development unfolds through play and exploration from birth

Children have an intrinsic desire to make sense of everything

In Talk for Maths Mastery, we viewed children as inherently mathematical from birth, competent and capable and full of potential, rather than taking a view of the child waiting to be instructed though a narrow set of knowledge presented in a prescribed, linear programme of learning.

This shift in perspective makes the practitioner much more aware of how children are thinking, making their learning visible, including what they bring from home and their ‘funds of knowledge’ drawn from their everyday lives.

Through our observations and the learning stories, we could clearly see children’s innate motivation, curiosity, reasoning and problem solving as they played and talked together. This intrinsic drive to make sense of everything was visible in the youngest of children as they researched how to balance bricks, line up animals in the right order or follow a rhythm beating on a basket.

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included