There are few things more exciting for a grandparent than buying and presenting a toy to a beloved grandchild, and watching it being incorporated into their imaginative play. As an educator, I find it especially interesting to observe which toys ‘catch on’ with a child, and crucially when they catch on. Sometimes a toy doesn’t… Continue reading Back to the magnetic drawing board
Tag: Counting
A Numberblocks Numberblog: reaching One Hundred
Mathematics can be a tricky subject… for grownups. Unfortunately, many adults grow up to think of maths as tedious at best and intimidating at worst. It’s not helpful to be confronted by this feeling when we’re faced with unavoidable tasks, such as measuring up a room or working out our share of a restaurant bill.… Continue reading A Numberblocks Numberblog: reaching One Hundred
Building preschool mathematics: from 1 to 100
As grandparents, we’re used to early wake-up calls when Daisy visits us. The fleeting peace of the morning is broken by my granddaughter's demands for a story, or for us to witness her play acting as a dragon. Last weekend she bounced excitedly into our bedroom to inform us that “the thing in the bathroom”… Continue reading Building preschool mathematics: from 1 to 100
The Value Of Simple Board Games For Young Children
Now that we're not all dashing about with appointments and work commitments we're all finding we have more time to do things. And although Daisy's Mummy and Daddy have plenty to do each day with their various schedules, taking turns to participate in Daisy's home learning gives them more time with Daisy each day than… Continue reading The Value Of Simple Board Games For Young Children
Counting on repetition: helping your grandchild to master numbers
Daisy first started to learn about numbers from rhymes and action songs then last year she started to watch Numberblocks programmes on Cbeebies. This series of programmes has really improved Daisy's understanding of numbers. Over recent months, with the help of Mummy, Daddy and her childminder, Daisy has learnt the names of numbers up to… Continue reading Counting on repetition: helping your grandchild to master numbers
Going Shopping to Develop Writing and Counting Skills
Writing The skill of writing develops over several years and young children first learn about writing by observing adults writing. A few months ago we started to introduce Daisy to the process of writing by including her in one of our routine activities that requires writing We explained that we were going to go shopping… Continue reading Going Shopping to Develop Writing and Counting Skills
Pumpkin maths
Have you noticed the array of pumpkins and colourful squashes at your supermarket or greengrocers? And have you bought some to decorate your home or your doorstep? Pumpkins and squashes are brilliant additions to our homes at this time of the year and you can also share them with your young grandchild. Before you even… Continue reading Pumpkin maths
The Language of Numbers
Daisy uses a mixture of signing, gestures and speaking to communicate with us. She's started to put two words together to make little sentences like "Where ball?" and with her intonations we're able to understand. Then last week I spotted Daisy tracing one of her fingers around her palm saying "Round, around" and adding "One",… Continue reading The Language of Numbers
The Lid on a Teapot: fine motor control, the world around her and early number.
Recently Daisy became really interested and wanted to help whenever Daddy made Mummy a cup of tea. Each time she signs 'Hot', says 'Tea' and 'Stir' as she reaches to help Daddy. So it was an obvious choice to purchase a little tea set for Daisy. Mummy then enhanced the play by making a simple… Continue reading The Lid on a Teapot: fine motor control, the world around her and early number.
