Supporting Babies
with Mathematics
By: Ashlee Steward
Are you in the Baby room? Most of you will know your children well, planning your day
according to the needs and interests of those babies. However, it is very common for
practitioners to underestimate what babies are capable of mathematically.
When supporting babies, we must remember that all areas of learning are inter-connected
and maths cannot be taught in isolation.
How can you help support babies’ mathematical understanding?
With the younger babies you can build games into everyday practice such as using their favourite toys,
providing them with opportunities to reach, grasp and explore them.
To explore aspects such as space and measures you can walk around the setting with a baby in your arms.
Simple finger rhymes can also be introduced into the baby room.
You can provide various textured objects for the babies to put in or under other objects. This can include larger
objects for them to crawl inside; large boxes and tunnels etc.
To build a very young baby’s understanding of number, you can play games with sound makers such as shakers,
making simple noises; one, two, three sounds. You can also encourage the babies to copy these noises as they
get older. You can also use your body parts to clap too!
Introducing things that are different sizes also help children explore mathematical concepts.
It is important for you to have fun and play together, during which you should use simple mathematical
language. For example, descriptive words such as “big”, “bigger”, “small”, “smaller”. You should emphasis the
words with actions.
As practitioners, we need to ensure we are interacting age appropriately with babies, talking about what we are
doing and why. Experiences such as I have described will be positive for babies, providing firm foundations for
their future mathematical experiences.