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Maths in the Early Years

Children learn about maths through play and daily experiences - the more meaningful and practical it is the better it is for the children.  The EYFS environment is full of mathematical opportunities and has exciting concrete apparatus for children to explore, sort, compare, count, calculate and describe. The children are encouraged to be creative, critical thinkers, problem solvers and, really importantly, to always have a go.

By the end of EYFS we aim to ensure the children have achieved their early learning goals:

  •  Children count reliably with numbers from one to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing.
  • Children use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems. They recognise, create and describe patterns. They explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.