Sam Goldsworthy: Maths Provision Outdoors

Outdoor provision is an effective tool in empowering children to engage with their learning through experimenting, questioning and reasoning. We love to incorporate outdoor play with all aspects of the EYFS curriculum as we feel children learn best when they are encouraged to be active agents in their own learning. Where the natural space allows children to freely make sense of the world around them through their interactions with play, where mathematical opportunities are endless including: weighing, size ordering, number recognition, problem solving and estimating.

In our garden, as many of you might know if you have signed up to the Wanderlust Nature Study Course, we have enhanced elements of our garden to create invitations to play and learn. The weighing scales next to our Mud Kitchen allow the children to experiment with mathematical language such as ‘heavier’ ‘lighter’ ‘balance’ ‘more’ ‘a lot’ as they add or take away pinecones, pebbles, sticks. This experience outside is far more enriching than if we used the scales insides with coloured counters because the children have this fantastic opportunity to form and question ideas and test them out physically.

Outside we have a lot of natural resources which the children to like to collect in their nature basket. Often, they will have a look at their finds and will count how many they have, order them according to size and share them out equally between their friends. All of this learning is natural and play orientated which is co-constructed between the children and their friends where they are incorporating each other’s ideas into play. This opens up the discussion about but what might happen if another friend wanted to join in, or if a friend no longer wanted to play how many will you have left now? Also, the children will use these natural loose parts and make shapes out of sticks, being able to form circles, squares and triangles as well as nature mandalas being able to talk about and recognise patterns and talk about symmetry.

Another popular mathematical concept outdoors is a hopscotch. Hopscotch is ideal in encouraging number recognition outside which is adaptable for different ages and learning abilities. Older children are able to jump between the squares being able to count to 10 and even selecting two numbers and problem solve by adding together or taking away. Whereas, for younger children they will often recognise their significant number, recite numbers 1-3 and perhaps recognise a sibling number of importance.

As an Early Years provider I am passionate about children learning and play being incorporated with nature as it is seen to be so much more inviting and hands on, fortunate enough to be able to have such an outdoor space where the children in my setting have the opportunity to experiment with their ideas of maths, in a way that is relaxing and enjoyable, by creating that sense of Hygge in our outdoor provision which is essential to childrens health and wellbeing and learning development.

Checkout further adventures, play ideas and provisions adaptations over @samgoldsworthychildminding on Instagram and Facebook.