This is one reason that it extremely important that the rest of the room is very orderly and well-kept.  The furniture arrangement (book shelves, tables, chairs, cribs, etc.) should be carefully laid out in a way that supports a basic sense of order throughout the room.  Using furniture to carve out small spaces and to ensure safe play spaces is also important which means that adults must have a clear view of the entire space, while the children’s view only needs to be divided into small play areas.

An orderly classroom also supports the young child’s need for emotional safety and consistency.  Imagine a child goes looking for her favorite shovel.  Ensuring that the shovel is returned to its place in the classroom helps the child feel safe, that her expectations are met, and she can consistently find what she needs, when she needs it. It is helpful to keep fewer items in each bin (4 balls rather than 14) and fewer bins on the shelves. Organized materials support a child’s ability to play independently and eases up the teacher’s roles and responsibilities during play as well as during clean-up time. But, no matter how many bins, baskets, and boxes you have and no matter what is in them, they will get dumped. Cleaning up the dumped toys several times throughout the day is the Sisyphean task of the toddler teacher.  It simply never ends.

When a toddler takes two objects and brings them together to play, he is creating a relationship between them.  Sometimes, the two objects are not meant to go together; think – a small wooden block and a plastic bowl from the housekeeping area. They weren’t designed to go together, but through the imagination of the toddler, they become relational.  The child may put the block in the bowl and then take it out if the bowl. Sometimes, the two objects are meant to go together.  We call this “functional – relational:” think – a cup and a saucer.  The child puts the cup on the saucer and then takes it off again. In and out, on and off, together and apart are all concepts explored through this kind of play.   These spatial experiences are mathematical.

Now consider the toddler who repeats the same sequences in her play.  She takes the play phone off the shelf, lefts the receiver to her ear, pulls on the cord, and drags the phone around.  She then repeats this experience in the same order; listen, pull, and drag. This repetitive play reinforces sequencing concepts.

Both of the examples above are typical experiences many toddlers have in child care.  You can further support the play by providing language to the experiences.  Use math vocabulary with the children to reinforce spatial relationships and sequencing.

They also created this snowman building activity which was perfect for toddlers.

The boxes were sized so they could be stacked.  They had clues on them to help the children figure out which one was the head, and which was the body.  The addition of the hats to put on top was genius. Not only was this a really well-designed but it was also supported very effectively by the teachers.

One teacher, while helping build a snowperson, “self-talked” throughout.  She said things like, “Oooh, I think I will put the biggest box on the bottom and the one with the nose on the top, so it can be the head.  The middle-sized box can go in the middle, for the snowperson’s middle.”  Self-talk is a useful strategy when working with preverbal children and “just beginning to talk” toddlers.  They have the understandings of the words but may not be able to produce them yet.  This strategy encourages critical thinking by expressing the concept of “planning” and then “execution” with the children.

Many of the toddlers I observed were able to stack the boxes and most could figure out that the box with the face went on top.  The 2 bottom boxes were confusing since the only clue to their order was their size.  However, their sizes were not extreme enough to be really visible and the boxes were slightly different shapes, which can also lead to confusion.

So…

If I were to recreate this activity, I would choose three boxes of differing sizes but of the same shape.  I would make sure that they were distinctly different sizes so the measurable quantity could be seen to a toddler.  I would also add one more visual clue to each box.  I might put feet on the bottom box and buttons only on the middle box.  You could choose your own clues, but be sure to include them so the children have enough information to build successfully.

The  night we brought brand new baby Noah home from the hospital, Larry and I lay in bed with him all snuggled between us and we read Oh, The Places You’ll Go.  We had read all the books, talked to all of our friends who were already parents, and done our research.  The message was clear – Read to your children as much as possible.  So we did.

Now I want the message to be as clear for early math learning.  This does not mean that we should begin counting and sorting and measuring with our babies the night they come home from the hospital, but there are ways that we can begin creating those neural pathways toward building math competencies as early as the first night home.

Exciting stuff!

It got me thinking about Developmentally Appropriate Practice and how we need to trust that the teachers who work with children daily, know what is appropriate for the children in their group.  I would not necessarily say that this set of dominoes is designed for toddlers.  Indeed, the box says “Ages 8+” but we all know that that designation is meant for playing Official Dominoes, not playing with dominoes as a manipulative.

So what does the toddler get out of manipulating this manipulative?  The obvious answer is that he is using his motor skills to stand each domino up to balance them on one end.  Less obvious is that he needs to use his spatial knowledge to place each of the dominoes out so if they were to fall, they would not knock the others down.  He may also be using his spatial skills to try and get them close enough to each other so when one falls over it does knock the others down. From the picture, it looks like he is trying to line them up in an even row.   In any of the above ways, he is thinking about spatial relations – which is early math.

I am also quite sure that this child does not have rote counting skills yet, nor one-to-one correspondence, but by playing with the dominoes he is exposed to the grouped pips (dots) in number formations that he will see throughout his life.

Just because dominoes may not be designed for toddlers and may even be considered to be Developmentally Inappropriate, after observing this child engaging with this set, I believe that the teacher made a great choice when she put them out.

This photo popped up on my Facebook page this morning.  A friend of a friend created this for her toddler, but I think we should all make them for toddler rooms.  It looks simple enough.  Go through the house, find old phones, locks, small mirrors, and a calculator and you’ve got yourself a really cool busy board that focuses on numbers.  So great!

If you look through the “Cognitive” area, you will find lots of ideas about math to add to your repertoire.