For Maths Week Scotland 2021, the Scottish Book Trust developed a special plan for a maths and numeracy themed Bookbug Session. This evergreen resource plan, which embeds numeracy into early years activities, continues to be available on the Scottish Book Trust website along with other numeracy related resources.
The session plan contains ideas for activities, songs and rhymes to help plan fun sessions with a numeracy focus.
How can songs and rhymes help to develop numeracy skills?
One of the simplest ways to support children’s numeracy skills is with a range of counting songs and rhymes. Songs and rhymes help them to learn and understand the sequence of numbers e.g. from 1 to 5 or up to 10. Try to include some songs where you count up, and others where you count down. Children need lots of opportunities to practise counting.
Simple actions and using fingers to count will help to reinforce children’s awareness of numbers. At the start of a song or rhyme, ask adults and children to show you the number of fingers they will need to join in with the counting. Choose different songs to vary the numbers you start with e.g. Three Little Speckled Frogs or Ten Fat Sausages.
Counting props will help children understand that the number you are saying corresponds to the physical number of items. For example, bounce five puppets on Lycra or a parachute, and sing Five Little Ducks. After each verse count how many are left, holding up or touching each puppet as you say the number.
More numeracy resources from the Scottish Book Trust:
To celebrate World Book Day, we’re thrilled to welcome back award-winning Glasgow-based author Maisie Chan. Last year, Maisie joined our Maths Tales programme to discuss her novel Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths and answer questions from enthusiastic pupils. We’ve followed up with Maisie for an exclusive interview, perfect for those who missed the session or had more burning questions.
