Numeracy

Children think mathematically long before they start school, and there is substantial growth in numeracy skills during preschool. Such informal knowledge about numbers is often referred to as ‘number sense’. Children show their number sense in many everyday problem-solving situations involving numbers and measurement. They may reason about who has more or less, devise strategies for creating equal shares of countable objects or amounts, or use counting in a range of situations to reason about a single group of objects or to compare two groups. Children informally build these skills in their everyday interactions with adults and with other children, and they can be encouraged to develop their understanding in play situations.