Maths – The Happy Learner

Counting 1:1 and early number recognition

Sophie — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 21:05:29 +0000

Charlie has started to notice numbers around him recently so I have been encouraging this interest to help support him to count 1:1 (saying a number for each object being counted) as well as recognising some numbers. He recently turned three and after all the birthday cards with the number 3 Charlie has started to …

Counting 1:1 and early number recognition Read More »

Autumn and Halloween Learning Adventures

Sophie — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 21:18:50 +0000

It is that spooky time of year again and love it or hate it the children are certainly interested and want to get involved. We don’t do anything remotely scary as the children are very sensitive, but we do read our favourite books ‘Room on the Broom’ and ‘Pumpkin Soup’ and base activities around these. …

Autumn and Halloween Learning Adventures Read More »

Why we love jigsaw puzzles!

Sophie — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 20:41:12 +0000

The humble jigsaw puzzle can be largely under rated but we absolutely love them in our house. As with all things the children go through phases with them, but I would say each child will complete at least one jigsaw puzzle a week. They help to develop such a wide range of skills and a …

Why we love jigsaw puzzles! Read More »

Children Take Over The Weekly Shop!!!

Sophie Calienda — Mon, 06 May 2019 13:00:25 +0000

I have been thinking about letting the children take over the weekly shop for a while and during the Easter holidays a conversation started over breakfast about what they would like to eat, which turned into what they would put on their own shopping list. It started to develop into meal planning and so I …

Children Take Over The Weekly Shop!!! Read More »

Easter Themed Maths Ideas

Sophie Calienda — Sun, 14 Apr 2019 20:23:36 +0000

With Easter approaching (and this year it seems to be taking forever) we have been taking advantage of all the Easter themed items available to develop our mathematical thinking. I read a quote yesterday which said that to learn something new it takes between 100-200 repetitions but when it is done through play it takes …

Easter Themed Maths Ideas Read More »

Valentine’s day special – maths and sensory play

Sophie Calienda — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 21:45:09 +0000

Valentine’s day is arriving and there are hearts everywhere so I thought it would be a good way to incorporate some maths games and sensory play. We have had a lot of fun with these games and love is definitely in the air now! Sensory Tray Resources: Coloured rice, coloured oats, range of red items …

Valentine’s day special – maths and sensory play Read More »

Our Top 5 Accidentally Educational Fun Games!

Sophie Calienda — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 22:20:46 +0000

It is that funny week between Christmas and New Year when nobody has a clue what day it is. We have also been in semi hibernation because of a chicken pox outbreak (it is very dangerous for Isabel to catch while she is still on treatment) so there have been lots of opportunities to play …

Our Top 5 Accidentally Educational Fun Games! Read More »

Halloween Maths Games

Sophie Calienda — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 20:00:05 +0000

As it is nearly Halloween we have been enjoying lots of activities together this half term. Last year my Halloween blog focused on phonics and rhyming words and so this year I thought it would be good to have a maths focus. The following games are ones that we have had a lot of fun …

Halloween Maths Games Read More »

Early counting, number recognition and number bonds to 10

Sophie Calienda — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 20:23:34 +0000

I wanted to write this blog last week, but with a hospital stay at the beginning of the week with Isabel, and then a hospital stay at the end of the week with Charlie it’s been a bit manic here. Luckily they are both doing well now, it’s just that horrible time of year and …

Early counting, number recognition and number bonds to 10 Read More »

Problem Solving Maths Activities during the summer holidays

Sophie Calienda — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 20:49:07 +0000

We have been having a lot of fun over the last week, either staying at home or out and about. I wanted to put together some of the maths activities we have been doing that focus on problem solving. Isabel is really keen to count and is interested in numbers, but problem solving is a …

Problem Solving Maths Activities during the summer holidays Read More »

Learning the days of the week – Early foundations for telling the time

Sophie Calienda — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 19:45:05 +0000

The last couple of weeks have been all about the days of the week. It started with Megan randomly saying the day such as “is it Wednesday? Is it nursery day?” She then started singing a days of the week song which they had been learning at nursery. A few days later we went to …

Learning the days of the week – Early foundations for telling the time Read More »

Maths on the Beach!

Sophie Calienda — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 12:24:09 +0000

We are lucky enough to live very close to the beach and so when everyone is feeling well we like to go down and spend a couple of hours playing on the sand and with the stones. The game we played this week can easily be replicated with some pebbles or stones that you can …

Maths on the Beach! Read More »

Maths – Simple addition and subtraction

Sophie Calienda — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 21:08:01 +0000

All of my blog posts so far have been about phonics. This is mainly because there are not many parent friendly phonics sites around and it is the one question I get asked a lot from friends. However I know that Maths is an area that some children can find hard to understand and sometimes …

Maths – Simple addition and subtraction Read More »

Food Shopping

Sophie Calienda — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 21:23:35 +0000

I had to do the supermarket food shop with all the children on a Saturday morning. Whilst the children are generally good while shopping it still fills me with dread. It is one of those jobs that I want to get done as quickly as possible. I decided I would get the girls more involved …

Food Shopping Read More »