Integrating learning about numerals into children’s everyday lives
Charis Voutsina, University of Southampton
Kathryn Nichols, Houghton Community Nursery School
Sharon Palfreyman, Corrie Primary & Nursery School
Numerals, written or presented in digit form (e.g., 5, 12) are all around us. In their family home, the preschool environment and in public spaces, young children encounter written numbers on clocks, books, games, the TV, on houses, and various kinds of digital displays. These numbers communicate different meanings and have different social uses and purposes that help us organise our lives.
‘Numbers in Everyday Life’ is a University of Southampton programme of family-based activities that aim to foster positive family engagement with number-related ideas, early in children’s lives.
Based on evidence from an earlier research project (Voutsina & Stott, 2023) and in collaboration with early years educators, we have developed a programme of activities that embed Number Spotting games in everyday family routines.
The programme aims to:
- Trigger 3–5-year-old children’s curiosity and interest about written numerals outside the classroom
- Empower families to talk about written numbers and their meanings within everyday family routines (like weekly shopping, daily school run)
- Enable educators and families to make meaningful connections between children’s experiences with numbers in everyday situations and learning about numbers at preschool or school
Key features of the programme:
- Numbers in Everyday Life Activity Cards:
Teachers share a set of activity postcards with each family. The cards include games that prompt children to spot numerals in different contexts, e.g., when shopping, or getting dressed. - Playing Numbers Spotting Games: Families play one or two number spotting games each week and upload (photographs and short comments) onto an online platform that is shared with the whole class
- Creating a Classroom Community of ‘Number Spotters’: Teachers share photos and family comments from children’s Number Spotting games in the classroom, to trigger and support class-based discussions about different numerals on everyday objects and their meanings;
- Connecting Home-Preschool experiences: Teachers organise Preschool/School-based activities (e.g., Number Hunt on the Pre-school grounds or Number Spotting walk to local shops) to create connections between children’s family-based Number Spotting experiences and their learning about numerals at preschool/school.
The programme was initially rolled out across Southampton, before being expanded nationally and internationally through a partnership with researchers and early years settings in Jamaica. So far, the resources have reached more than 700 families.
Practice Insights
Kathryn Nichols, Houghton Community Nursery School
For us, it was not only important to develop children’s awareness of the multiple meanings and social uses of written numbers in everyday life but it was also important to upskill care givers awareness on the positive outcomes they can have by engaging in conversation with children about written numerals and more so within the many contexts that we find them across everyday tasks and daily life. We launched the project through a parents’ workshop which combined the evidence-based research that clearly states that positive growth and outcomes are influenced through family engagement (e.g., Napoli & Purpura, 2018) along with the plan and expectations of being involved in the project.
Parental engagement
We were genuinely surprised and thrilled by the uptake and participation of families. The way in which family members recorded and documented their children’s findings and ‘words’ was on a shared platform, forming a triangulation between the research body, the families and staff within nursery.
From my own point of view in having access to this data, it allowed us to share in the celebration of family participation, and we could revisit home learning and build upon once more to relaunch a new line of inquiry within nursery.
Addressing uncertainty
For some of our families the session really struck a chord and many parents were clear in that they were not ‘mathsy’ nor felt confident in engaging in conversation around any element of mathematical concepts. One parent openly said ‘where do we start?’
Sharing the ‘Written Numbers in Everyday Life’ activity postcards, as tools that parents could access during the timescale and beyond, meant that parents could leave the session feeling enthused and one parent said ‘I can’t wait to get going and to see how my son responds to these ideas’.
Connecting children’s family-based Numbers spotting with our practice
We used the images and words that families shared within an interactive display that sat in the centre of our learning community for all to feel valued and celebrated.
The way in which family members recorded and documented their children’s findings and ‘words’ was on a shared platform, forming a triangulation between the research body, the families and staff within nursery.
Number Spotting games creating opportunities for child-parent talk about numbers (example of a parent’s post)
“Is that number 10 or not?” We found lots of 10s in week 1 this is the only one he questioned if he had found one or not. We had a conversation about decimal place and the symbol of °c relating to temperature. He thought 10.2°C felt cold, which it certainly did.”
Inspiring excitement and learning
Over time in nursery, children were pointing to and pulling out numerals within and beyond our school community. No matter where we went or where we were, we were entering open dialogues based on written numerals. It was clear children really understood that numerals carry differing meanings.
Extending learning – Group Baking
We embarked upon a process of baking muffin cakes. Before delving deeply into the baking process, we must take time to consider a recipe…what is a recipe? What does it tell us? Why does it have numbers on it?
Becoming a scriber in writing our ingredients and then becoming numerate in measuring the correct amount of ingredients. Looking attentively at the digital scales to take an accurate measurement.
Our key takeaway
We were able to bridge a gap between care givers’ confidence and knowledge of how to approach this area of learning with their children. The programme had some key components that really held the structure of the research. With a focus on written numerals seen in the world we live in, parents could make connections between what was asked of them and how they could support their child.
Not only children need time to unpick concepts and form deeper connections in their learning but so do care givers, we all, as adults, need time to revisit earlier findings and through multi-modal ways develop meaning.
Sharon Palfreyman, Corrie Primary & Nursery School
We set the environment up with examples of packaging with numerals displayed indicating price/size/weight/ amounts etc and items that they might come across in their daily life, including a clock, age birthday cards and numbered balloons, measuring tape, maps, calendars and other examples, then invited parents to talk with their child about the numbers they could spot together and if children could say what they thought the number was for.
Enthusiastic Number Spotters!
I found the children became much more engaged in spotting numbers in the setting as a result of taking part in the project.
One child took several boots off the welly rack to see if they were his size, saying, “I need to find my number” and measuring was very popular!
Parents told me that their children were now constantly spotting and having conversations about numbers they found
Parental response
Parents found it easy to implement, as there were no special resources needed beyond making a quick record and photo on their phone of numbers their child noticed at home or out and about and the meaning they attached to them.
Parents really valued the experience, as one Mum wrote, ‘It made me realise how easy it is to find different numbers in our day-to day and how just these extra few minutes make such a difference to our child’s confidence, understanding and enjoyment of numbers.’
Building on children’s excitement and adapting Number Spotting games to their interests and favourite numbers (examples of parents’ posts)
“She liked finding the signs and asking me if I needed to slow down or go faster with this one. When I explained the bigger the number the faster I could go, she said we needed to find some big numbers so we could go fast.”
“He has been on a number hunt around our house this morning. He couldn’t find 1000 on anything so he wrote his own. He said 1000 is his favourite number because it’s the biggest!”
Our key takeaway
Being involved with the project made me reflect upon about how often children who are beginning to recognise numerals are either reading them as a symbol without ascribing meaning or able to link them to an amount such as matching a count or knowing the number that represents their own age, but not much beyond this. In contrast, the project gave opportunities for children to find out many of the different meanings that a number can signify in a real context, for example looking at speed signs and asking why numbers are needed.
The ‘Numbers in Everyday Life’ programme of activities and associated resources have been supported by UKRI Research England, Participatory Research Fund. If you wish to know more about this programme, or participate in the project please contact Charis Voutsina at: cv@soton.ac.uk.
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Numbers in Everyday Life Activity Cards © 2023 by University of Southampton are licenced under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International.
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