Toddler Maths

Idris stunned me yesterday by easily building this huge tower!! He confidently placed one unit block on top of another, using his other hand to steady the tower when needed. I helped with a few balance adjustments as it got higher but he wasn't upset when it fell over, he laughed and rolled around on the blocks then built another. I digress....... about halfway up, I handed him a longer block and he put it on and turned for the next one - I handed him the original size and he turned to put it on........ then stopped, frowned, said 'na' and took the long one off, dropped it on the floor, did a happy wiggle then put the same sized one on top and turned for the next. It made me think back to some Penny Tassoni training I did recently where she had put a blue duck with yellow ones and noted that a toddler took it out of the bucket, showing that toddlers take notice of groupings - an early mathematical observation. It got me thinking what else I have seen Idris do that comes under the 'early maths' heading.

Here he is sitting with a metal teapot from his metallic treasure basket and he went straight for the tin that would fit inside it and popped it in and out, opening and shutting the lid - he seems to be very accurate when he chooses things to fir inside something else. He knows what will fit and what won't without using trial and error - showing that he can accurately judge size/capacity at a very young age!

This is him again exploring a similar concept to the one above with the teapot...... this is the treasure tub that came about after my post on him threading beads into plastic bottles - my parents put together a collection of plastic plumbing pipes and different threads of beads, a funnel, a few jars and bottles and a denture pot! This treasure tub is fab as it's in a round plastic bird seed tub and is easy to carry around - it has been to the bathroom many evenings at bath time! It was in the bath that I first noticed that Idris was selecting exactly the right tube to create a 'nest' of tubes with each one getting smaller. I was fascinated!

Idris finds plenty of opportunities to explore maths outdoors as well, as he carries all sorts of objects, heavy and light, and plays with his beloved collection of balls of all shapes and sizes! When you think about it, there are so many ways for toddlers to explore mathematical concepts, have a close look next time your toddlers are exploring things and see what maths they are applying without even knowing it!