Why I love Numberjacks - and how to help young children enjoy maths....

Children's TV can be a bore (yes, before the criticisms roll in, I understand that we can switch it off, and my children don't actually watch very much), but there are always some gems. For my three-and-a-half year old son, the highlights are Big Cook, Little Cook, and The Numberjacks. And coincidentally (or perhaps not...) he loves both cooking and numbers (he's always asking questions about adding various number together, knows what's heavy and what's not, and seems to understand all sorts of mathematical concepts, some of which come from me, and some from the TV!).

Impressed by the effect of Numberjacks, I spoke to Chris Ellis, one of the people behind the show. Its  aim is to attract children to numbers and mathematical concepts, and the pitch was to specifically try and attract slightly older children (4/5 year olds) and to appeal to boys in particular. Chris is an interesting man, who cares passionately about education. That's why I asked him to tell us his secrets for engaging children with sums. You see, it can be much easier than it appears - from comparing the size of different things, to adding just one more vegetable to a plate and counting how many you now have....

"For someone who earns his living from writing I am sometimes very slow when it comes to words, and it’s taken me a long time to realise how one simple word illustrates how best to help children learn. It’s the two different senses contained within the word meaning: we all learn what things mean better if they mean something to us as people. If we have an emotional response to something we are far more likely to learn it and remember it, than if it hasn’t connected with us in some way. In creating the Numberjacks series for pre-school children we tried to make exactly those connections – to make children care about numbers and all things mathematical, because when we care about something we learn with our hearts as well as our minds.
 
Most people talk about maths a lot more than they realise.  Maths describes the world around us, so it’s no surprise that there is maths to be found anywhere, any time. You are “doing maths” every time you use any of the following words in conversation with a child: same, different, big, small, here, there, more, less, up, down, start, stop, again. All the best learning happens when we are doing something we enjoy and care about, so build the “maths” around whatever your child enjoys: playing, eating, going out, jumping, bathing, making silly noises – it doesn’t matter what the activity is, there is always maths to explore and talk about to make it even more enjoyable.  Drawing out the maths doesn’t dull the pleasure, it increases it.  Running round in that sort of shape, that many times, in that amount of time makes the running more fun because there is more to connect to.
 
Maths is indeed everywhere, but there are some specific places to look, and the following might be helpful ways to develop your child’s mathematical take on the world:

Notice things – sights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures, forms, quantities. 

Compare things - are they the same, different, bigger, more, less, smaller, louder, softer, rounder, straighter?   Play odd one out – why do two things go together and the other thing doesn’t?  You might be thinking it because of size, or colour, or shape, or what it’s made from – don’t be surprised if your child sees a different way of sorting things.  Let the child take the lead and set you some odd ones out to sort.

Count things – numbers make much more sense if they are related to things children already know and feel connected to – their toys, spoonfuls of food, their fingers, their clothes, the stairs, the footsteps from the front door to the front gate/lift/street corner.  Are there more things or fewer things?  How many are there altogether?  Are their enough things for everyone?  How many more things are needed?
What shape are things?  Are their sides straight, or curved, or both?  Have things got the same sort of shape – ball, orange, pea.   Can you see a circle, a triangle, a square?   

Measure things – are they bigger/ longer/ smaller/taller than a (child’s) finger nail, finger, hand, arm, favourite toy?
 
Talk about where things are positioned or are going – inside, outside, near, far, up, down, left, right. 
Are there patterns – of colours or shapes or sounds or actions?    Could you repeat the pattern?  Could you carry it on?  Could you change it?

Sometimes just talk, sometimes play games.  Play matching and counting games with cards, dominoes, dice and toys. Play guessing games – describe something and see if your child can guess what it is.
“It’s on your plate, it’s green , and it’s the same shape as a little ball.”   Once they’ve got the idea, ask your child to describe something for you to guess.
Do some big (and stretching) thinking – what’s the biggest thing you could pick up?  Or find in this house?  Or outside the house?  Or in the whole world?  What’s the smallest, or strongest, or bendiest, or smelliest thing? 
Make things fun and challenging – the phrase “Bet you can’t…” is a good way to set a fun challenge.  And always start simply and then get more challenging.  Young children are exploring the world in all sorts of different ways, and they do it because they want to.  Build on their natural curiosity, go with the flow of their interests and passions, and with no pain and much gain they will be off to a great start in maths."

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Comments

[oneopinionatedmother]

my 21 month old loves it. bless her. though probably more the colours and movement business...

wish we'd had this kind of edutainment when i was little.

[cowfreak]

Yea, my wee girl (nearly 4) loves this prog. Being a bit nervous about the fx of tv, I only let her watch CBeebies, it's grrrreat!1!

[Bob Robinson]

Response to Jonquil

Numberjack DVD's are produced by ITV
DVD. They are available in European format from the Amazon UK web site. You will need a universal DVD player

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?search-alias=dvd&field-keywords=&field-title=numberjacks&field-actor=&field-director=&field-ean=&chooser-sort=relevancerank&mysubmitbutton1.x=0&mysubmitbutton1.y=0

[jonquil]

numberjacks sounds like a great show. however, stateside, we don't get the program. any idea where to get dvds of the program? amazon (us) doesn't stock them & the numberjacks website is a bit confusing.

[Tara@Sticky Fingers]

My son used to adore Numberjacks when he was about four and I could have cried with delight!
He particularly liked the 'baddies': the Shape Japer, the problem blob.
Spooky Spoon he said was a bit too girlie!
If they had a problem blob in my maths lessons, I may have paid more attention!