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There are many stories which can you read to your child, which focus on key maths concepts and vocabulary. There are a wide range of stories which can be used to develop maths skills such as counting, number formation, number order, addition, subtraction, months of the year, days of the week and telling the time.  Children enjoy stories and they provide a fun and relaxed atmosphere for learning to take place.

 

How stories develop maths

Stories which teach counting

 

How stories develop maths

By selecting stories carefully you can develop your child’s knowledge skills in a fun and interesting way. You can start reading stories to your child at a very early age, especially if they have simple language, perhaps to begin with a storybook which introduces counting to three such as ‘1, 2, 3 to the Zoo'.

Below are some ideas of how stories can be used to develop your child’s maths skills. You might want to focus on one story for a few days and explore the maths in detail or read several stories which focus on one maths area such as counting to five.

 

        ‘’Peace at Last’ by Jill Murphy (1992)

         This book could be used to explore the concept of time i.e. night and day. Discuss and explain language such as: morning, afternoon, evening, night, midnight, now, soon, early, late, clock etc. You could talk about different ways of telling the time and how you know when its night or day. Can your child recognise things which are different at night such as lights being on in houses, different animals around, street lamps and car lights being turned on etc.

 

‘Four Friends in the Garden’ by Sue Heap (2005)

This story explores many mathematical concepts and has lovely illustrations. The book could be used to look at capacity though the size of the cups and jug used for the picnic. The language of shape, pattern, and time as well as counting and number could be explored through looking at flowers, butterflies, symmetry and seasons. Discuss and explain the language in the book such as ‘more, less, how many...? pattern, every other, circle, spring, summer, autumn, winter, same, sides’  Take time to talk about the story and let your child raise questions about anything they may be unclear about.

 

‘Snow Bears’ by Martin Waddell (2003)

This story is ideal to explore the concept of size through the three baby bears (smallest, middle sized and biggest), mother bear and the different sized snowballs.  Talk about different sized objects around you and having read the story ask your child to order three objects from smallest to largest.

 

   'Doing the Garden’ by Sarah Garland (1992)

  

   This book would be useful for exploring length, mass and capacity  through focusing on different sized plants, trees, pots, seeds, seed trays etc. Having read the story you could do some gardening with your child, and discuss important concepts e.g. size of plants, how we can measure water etc.

 

 

      Counting

There are a wide range of stories which develop counting skills. When sharing a story take time to focus on the front cover, illustrations, characters and language used. Read the story slowly focusing on key maths language, for example, if the book is focusing on counting, spend time on practising the numbers together, and encourage your child to read and try and recognise the numbers.  Give your child the chance to talk about the story and say what they think it might be about, whether or not they liked the book or what their favourite part was.

 

The following stories can all be used to teach and reinforce counting skills.   

 

 

‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’  

T Bradman (Metheun Publishers)

 

‘Ten, Nine, Eight’  

Molly Bang (Pic Puffin Publishers)

 

‘One, Two, Three Jump’  

Penelope Lively and Jan Ormerod (Puffin Publishers)

 

‘Ten in the Bed’

Penny Dale (Walker Publishers)

 

‘Ten Sleepy Sheep’

Holly Keller (Hippo Publishers)

 

‘Witches Four’

Marc Brown (P Corgi Publsihers)

 

‘One Bear All Alone’

C Bucknall (Macmillan Publishers)

 

‘The Bad Babies Counting Book’

Tony Bradman (Beaver Books Publishers)

 

‘Sixes and Sevens’

John Yeoman and Quentin Blake (Pic Mac Publsihers)

 

‘1, 2, 3 to the Zoo’

Eric Carle (Hamish Hamilton Publishers)

 

‘Kipper’s Toy Box’

Mick Inkpen (Hodder and Stoughton Publishers)

 

‘The Squirrel’s Store’

Rosemary Revile Irons (Kingscourt Publishers)

 

‘Counting on an Elephant’

Jill MacDonald (Pic Puffin Publishers)

 

‘One Duck, Another Duck’

J Amego (Pic Puffin Publishers)

 

 


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