Children\'s Mathematics

Nursery: ‘the spider’

Joe has made a drawing of a spider (Figure 2.3). He told the teacher, ‘My spider’s got

eight legs.’

Figure 2.3. Joe’s spider

• a spider has eight legs


• you can represent that idea in your drawing


• you can attach meaning to numbers.

Reception: role-play – ‘the baby clinic’

The marks in this example (Figure 2.4) were made jointly by several children. They

include the ‘4’ of their age; the first letters of two of the children’s names; approxi-

mations of letters in the English alphabet and numerals.

Joe had been looking at and playing with toy spiders in the nursery and had chosen

to draw this picture. He has drawn the spider with many more than eight legs.

Looking at the spider he saw lots of legs and represented that idea in his drawing.

Joe is showing a growing awareness of number and quantity and is able to describe

it. He knows that:

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