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.
Popular
Stories for Teaching Counting and Numeracy
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 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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