Children\'s Mathematics

people. We added plastic, cut out cardboard and shiny paper numerals to the writing

area, as well as decorations for the birthday cards. The children made lots of cards

for themselves and other people. Children chose to come to this area if they wanted

to. There was sometimes an adult there to discuss with the children anything they

wanted to do. We carefully observed this area and noted down our findings. The

children showed ownership of their cards: Stacey, 4:2, showed the birthday cards she

had made for her sisters to her granny; Thomas, 3:9, showed his to his sister; Daniel,

4:5, showed his to his mum. There was always somebody at this area and all the chil-

dren were able to discuss for whom they were making the birthday card. Some chil-

dren just felt the numerals and others glued as many numerals as they could on a

piece of paper. A parent helper aided the children’s experimentation with rulers and

folding the paper and card to make the birthday cards. The children chose the paper

carefully, selecting the colour and size that would suit them.

Figure 9.1 Nikita’s birthday card

Nikita, 3:4, made a birthday card for herself (Figure 9.1). She looked through the dif-

ferent colours of paper and finally decided on pink. She looked through the box of

cardboard numbers and selected the numeral three, which was her age. She glued

the numeral on to the paper and wrote in black pen. She was very quiet and whis-

pered to me that the card was for her – ‘I am three’ she said. Nikita showed her

understanding of birthday cards. She knew her own age and was able to select the

appropriate numeral to put on her card. Her marks look very much like writing and

the crosses might be kisses, although she never gave me this information.

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