Maths
Numeracy learning outdoors
Numeracy is the ability to reason and to apply simple numerical concepts. We become numerate as we develop the knowledge and skills to use mathematics across our lives, and this applies in the outdoors just as much as in the early childhood classroom. Questions can form the basis for intentional teaching as children interact with the natural environment.
Collecting and gathering sticks, leaves, stones or petals can offer opportunities for counting, exploration of concepts such as more than and less than, and for early addition and subtraction learning:
· How many do you have?
· If you collected another, how many would you have then?
· Do you have more than your friend?
Taking note of the space and natural features around you offers opportunities for sorting and for exploring size and measurement, developing language and vocabulary not just to articulate the world but to interpret it too:
· Is that stick straight or curved? Which leaves are long and which are round?
· How many children can we fit into the hidey hole? How many arms does it take to reach around the tree?
· Whose stick is longest? Whose is shortest? How could we find out?
Being outdoors is also ideal for exploring spatial understandings as children may journey or find things, and as they move around in the space which may offer opportunities for more physical exploration:
· Are we getting near our site? Or are we still far away?
· Where did you find that?
· Which way should we go?
Numeracy is the ability to reason and to apply simple numerical concepts. We become numerate as we develop the knowledge and skills to use mathematics across our lives, and this applies in the outdoors just as much as in the early childhood classroom. Questions can form the basis for intentional teaching as children interact with the natural environment.
Collecting and gathering sticks, leaves, stones or petals can offer opportunities for counting, exploration of concepts such as more than and less than, and for early addition and subtraction learning:
· How many do you have?
· If you collected another, how many would you have then?
· Do you have more than your friend?
Taking note of the space and natural features around you offers opportunities for sorting and for exploring size and measurement, developing language and vocabulary not just to articulate the world but to interpret it too:
· Is that stick straight or curved? Which leaves are long and which are round?
· How many children can we fit into the hidey hole? How many arms does it take to reach around the tree?
· Whose stick is longest? Whose is shortest? How could we find out?
Being outdoors is also ideal for exploring spatial understandings as children may journey or find things, and as they move around in the space which may offer opportunities for more physical exploration:
· Are we getting near our site? Or are we still far away?
· Where did you find that?
· Which way should we go?