How to Introduce Patterns in Early Maths and Why it is Important
How to Introduce Patterns in Early Maths and Why it is Important
Maths and Numeracy are key components of Early Years Education. They equip children with fundamental skills that will assist them not only in their further education, but also in their personal and professional life. So what does Mathematical Education in Early Years really mean?
Mathematical Education during the Foundation Years goes far beyond numerical operations - it helps children understand the world around them. Thanks to developing such mathematical skills as reasoning and problem solving, children will be able to investigate and interpret situations around them, solve the problems that are relatable to them, communicate their reasoning about the world, understand and predict changes, compare and contrast objects and phenomena. Mathematical Education will also help children relate to other disciplines such as Science, History and Geography in a more meaningful way. They will be able to apply their knowledge and skills to understand historical timelines and consequences of events, organise and interpret scientific data, and make informed decisions about the solutions related to ecology and sustainability.
Apart from that, starting mathematical education in early years facilitates multi-cultural understanding. Children will learn how modern societies approach numeracy, what tools and concepts they use, and how these tools and concepts can be effectively adapted to further benefit from them. Children will also be able to experience how Maths links to other areas of life such as design, money, health and technology.
Mathematical Learning in Foundation Years
Young children are introduced to mathematical concepts in a way that best relates to their stage of development and their current capacity. Children at this stage start to develop a sense of numbers, orders, sequences and patterns, and they are staring to learn about properties and characteristics of different objects. Noticing details about the environment and the world around comes more naturally and at this stage children will be able to compare things, explain what certain objects have in common, and what makes them different.
Early Mathematical Education supports further development of children’s ability to recognise and understand patterns and sequences. Children will learn about the attributes of things and collections, about movement and direction. They will start to gain awareness of mass, length and capacity, and will start sequencing events and situations.
Why Patterns are Important
Repeating patterns is one of the skills that we focus on during Early Years - it provides a solid foundation for a further development of mathematical skills. In fact, organising different items into groups and patterns is usually one of children’s most favourite activities. Working with patterns begins with drawing young children’s attention to differences and similarities between things, objects and phenomena. Then children start to copy a pattern once they are able to distinguish between objects.
Copying patterns provides a basis for comparing things in terms of their mass, length, colour, size, shape and other characteristics. Repeating patterns means children are able to copy exactly the same pattern again. This can be a line made of colourful beads that we ask them to form, a sequence of shapes or numbers to copy, or a line of toy animal figures of different types and sizes. When children become familiar with pattern, they can focus on main characteristics and pick the correct objects out of a group of other similar objects. When the objects are of the same colour, then it is the shape or size that children will focus on. And when all objects belong to the same category, for example they are all animals, children will need to create a new pattern by carefully studying animals’ details.
Patterns and Mark-Making
To be able to copy a pattern by drawing or writing it down, children need to observe all the details of the letter, shape or object presented to them, and then copy the pattern in an appropriate sequence. Apart from practicing their observational and reasoning skills, they also practice mark-making which is a great introduction to writing letters and numbers.
Patterns and Predicting Changes
As soon as children master copying patterns, they are ready to start predicting the sequence. This is why copying patterns provides such a solid foundation for the development of mathematical skills like continuing patterns and forming sequences. Although it starts with predicting the objects that form a sequence, eventually children will be able to predict the probability of things occurring around them.
In the beginning, the practical applications of being able to recognise, copy and continue patterns will mainly relate to weather predictions, seasonal changes, noticing natural phenomena such as sunsets, sunrises and tides, as well as becoming aware of physiological functions of the body such as digestion, sweating, tears, feeling hot or cold, etc.
How Children Naturally Learn about Patterns
One of the most important outcomes of Early Maths is that eventually children become creative, confident and independent users of their mathematical skills. For this to achieve, the learning process needs to be meaningful, enjoyable and engaging - children learn by doing and experiencing the world best.
Children enjoy creating their own collections of small objects, they arrange them the way they personally find most appealing, interesting and relatable. Collecting items, studying them, comparing and finally sorting them help children understand the world better. And when children play with their collections, they pay special attention to details discovering and investigating further how things are different and what they have in common. This in turn helps to bring about their first mathematical questions about the world.
How to Introduce Children to Repeating Patterns
In order to help young children become confident and creative users of mathematical skills, it is recommended that educators plan engaging and enjoyable experiences for their children in advance. The more personalised the experiences and activities are, the more the children will be able to relate their learning to their personal life.
An example of good practice is using everyday objects such as sea shells, fruit, pebbles or seeds, and offering children opportunities to work with the patterns that occur around them naturally. Making activities more multi-sensory will appeal to all children - full use of senses is the way they learn best. Working with the objects that are interesting to touch, are full of details, have textures that can be sensed and studied with fingers, or are of vivid colours or patterns will make learning much more attractive and very meaningful.
Children can also be effectively introduced to patterns through creative arts and crafts activities. Decorating walls, pots, sandwiches and other everyday objects with patterns of their choice will help young children express themselves creatively, make learning more personalised, and facilitate their recognition of patterns even further.
Copying patterns is not only about physical objects. It can involve working with the rhythm, sound and music. Following rhythmic patterns and repeating them is also part of mathematical education related to pattern recognition.
Take Your Skills Further Too!
Developing an awareness of patterns, recognising them and being able to copy them is an important part of Early Mathematical Education. These skills prepare young children to understand more complex ideas and concepts related to algebraic, statistical and multiplicative thinking that will develop in subsequent years. By offering children motivating, meaningful and enjoyable experiences we will help them become creative, independent and motivated users of their mathematical skills for life
To learn more about how to effectively introduce Early Maths and Early Numeracy in your setting or school, check the ACTIVE LEARNING BOOSTER programme by Natural Born Leaders. It’s a self-paced hands-on online training programme for Early Years Practitioners and Primary Teachers who are ready to offer Future-Oriented Education through the Active Experiential Holistic Learning approach.
Magdalena Matulewicz and Witold Matulewicz, Founders of Natural Born Leaders and authors of the Active Learning Booster programme, have been working with this approach for over 20 years - both in early years and primary education. They have trained lots of childminding settings, play groups, day nurseries and schools where dedicated educators have successfully been using Active Experiential Holistic Learning on a daily basis.
In their ACTIVE LEARNING BOOSTER training programme you'll learn how to create long-lasting frameworks that will help you offer Multi-Sensory & Experiential Learning on a daily basis. You'll also learn:
- how to support ALL areas of child development through Whole-Person Experiential Learning,
- how to identify Learning Outcomes for your children in naturally occurring activities,
- how to design Safe Indoor and Outdoor Learning Environments, Contexts and Experiences to promote Cross-Curricular and Experiential Learning,
- how to promote Early Literacy and Early Maths beyond pen & paper, worksheets or technology,
- how to foster the development of your children’s Gross Motor Skills and balanced Physical Development,
- and so much more!
When you complete this certified CPD programme, you will be able to use any resources that are available to you locally, and use them to maximise Experiential Learning opportunities for all children under your care. You will become an empowered, self-reliant, and tool-independent Educator of the Future!
This means that regardless of your location and access to educational resources or funds, you will be able to offer Active Experiential Holistic Learning at the highest level!
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Natural Born Leaders provides all Morton Michel policyholders a 25% discount to their ACTIVE LEARNING BOOSTER programme.
To redeem your exclusive discount, on the programme webpage choose a number of licences you would like to purchase, click on the Add to Basket button and apply the discount code MM25ALB to claim your 25% off. Click here for more information.
Please direct all of your questions regarding the Active Learning Booster to Witold from Natural Born Leaders at info@naturalbornleaders.org.
The information in this article is provided by Active Born Leaders and does not represent Morton Michel.