**Before starting these activities, have you tried out these Exploration activities? Do read about how your child can learn Math concepts through a developmental sequence.

Spatial concepts are the relationships between people and objects as well as objects with one another. Children need vocabulary that will help them to describe position, direction and relationships. This vocabulary and the conceptual awareness will be useful when they start to classify and order materials.

Concepts like in front of, behind, top, bottom, over, under, last, between, farthest, backward, in, on, etc. Help us understand directions more precisely, ask detailed questions, and express our ideas to others. For preschoolers, an awareness or understanding of spatial concepts and relationships usually predicts success in Math, Reading and following directions.

Here are the activities for your child to learn Spatial Concepts :

1. Books to Read-aloud that teach Spatial Relationships

Up, Down and Around – Ayers and Westcott   Rosie’s Walk – Hutchins

2. Obstacle course 

Set up an obstacle course using ropes or boxes. Give directions that emphasize position and direction. For example, “Go under or over the rope,” “Step over the box,” “Walk around the circle”, “Stand inside the circle”.

3. Mummy Says

Direct child’s attention to directional words when playing. e.g., “Mummy says go under the table.”

4. Stackable Snacks

Make sandwiches by spreading butter ON the sandwich, then talk about the bread that is on TOP of the cheese, the ham that is in the MIDDLE and other ingredients at the BOTTOM.

5. Left, Right Prints

Give the child a sheet of construction paper that has been folded in half. Ask the child to dip their right hand in paint and make a print on the right side of the paper. Do the same with the left hand.

6. Spatial Concept Cards

You can print 2 sets of these spatial concept cards  to play matching pairs, or use these animal cutouts to explore spatial relationships. E.g, “Put the dog ON the chair.” “Put the cat into the box” etc

7. Exploring spatial concepts using Manipulatives or LEGO

Create a grid of 9 squares on a piece of paper and give the child 5-10 colours of snap cubes or LEGO pieces of various colours.

• Provide the child with verbal directional instructions. For example, “Place the red cube ON TOP of the blue cube.” “Place the yellow cube BELOW the red cube” “Put the green cube on the RIGHT of the yellow cube” etc
• Continue giving directions. Offer the child additional colours for an extra challenge.

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Next on the series of Hands on Math, will be the concept of Classification.

For more articles on Home-Learning for Pre-schoolers, do go to the Directory of Learning articles on this blog.

Related posts:

•   Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

•   Little Blue and Little Yellow

•   The Mixed-Up Chameleon

All three recommended books above were used to teach K to listen to and visually identify the different animals featured in the book (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?), notice the similarites(Little Blue and Little Yellow) and learn to associate the distinctive animal part with the specific animal (The Mixed-Up Chameleon)

Related posts:

Snap Cubes From Wikipedia 

I did not grow up liking Math.

Maybe I didn’t have a logical mind, or simply I learnt Math by rote and never really understood the principles and foundation of Math concepts.

Research have shown that children who learn Math through rote memorization will advance through the educational system until they reach Primary 3, which is when Math becomes confusing and becomes a difficult subject to manage. It is only then that the parent or the teacher will come to realize that the child never really had a basic understanding of Math in the first place.

Rather than teach Math through rote-memorisation and ‘drilling’ of facts and data, many researchers and educators support greater involvement with Math concepts in the early childhood years through activities that are hands-on (Hunter, 2000), natural (Clements, 2001), have meaning for children (Zanger 1998, Moyer 2000), and come from everyday life (Kilman 1999). Children should be given lots of opportunities to explore Math in the context of play.

Most children start to learn Math through the concept of numbers. This is a useful skill for a child to acquire, in learning to associate meaning with symbols. However, it does not give an indication of true understanding. As many children can count to high numbers, without having a basic understanding of what these numbers represent.

How Parents can Teach your Child Math

To help a child develop a conceptual understanding of Math. Math should be presented in a developmental sequence. Various concepts in Math can be brought across through scaffolding techniques, which will help the child to build a logical sequence of their understanding of the subject.

Math for a pre-schooler starts with the concept of exploration. Mums can start when their child is at toddler (from 2 years old onwards), and give their child hands-on, concrete experiences to experiment with attributes and properties of materials. Through these exploration experiences, the child will begin to;

1. Recognize similarities, differences, relationships of objects,

2. Then moving to the concept of classification,

3. Classification bridges the concept of patterns,

4. Which develops to the concept of more and less,

5. Then finally reaching number concepts.

Math Concepts through Literature-Based Learning

One of the most effective way I have experienced in teaching a preschooler Math concepts, is through the Literature-Based learning methods. I have used the Math Start Level 1 series of books (which is available for reservation through National Library Board), as well as a range of other titles from different authors.

In this blog series of Hands on Math, I will share hands-on, concrete activity ideas, so as to accompany and illustrate the Math concepts introduced from the recommended titles.

Here are the concepts that will be covered in the Hands on Math post series on this blog :

1. Exploration

2. Spatial Relationships

3. Classification

4. Patterning

5. One to One Correspondence

6. Ordering

7. Shapes

8. Numeration

References

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For the 1st post of Hands on Math series, go to this post on Exploration. 

For more articles on Home-Learning, go to the directory of Learning articles on this blog. 

Related posts: