Numbers up to 10.

Although our number system seems very straight forward, when a 5 year old first encounters it it is quite literally a foreign language and they have no idea what the rules are!

Most schools will begin in year 1 focusing on numbers up to 10. As children progress through KS1 they will move on to number up to and just passed 100.

The whole basis of everything they will learn begins with understanding what our numbers actually mean. Once children have grasped what the number 0 to 9 actually represent (which they will hopefully happen in EYFS) they will then need to grasp the concept of digits having different valued in different positions.

It is important to first establish your child does have a good understanding of the number up to 10. This can be established by playing fun and simple games:

- Board games where a dice with numbers is used e.g. Snakes and Ladders or Ludo.

- Treasure hunt, asking questions like ' Can you find 4 red toys?' or 'How quickly can you find 2 monkeys?'.

- Quick Counting, show your child a selection on objects and they hold a number card up for the correct number of a certain type or colour of object.

e.g. 'Which card matches the blue smiley faces?'