When Maurice looks for zero.
- Frédérique and the Wooden Fellows
Since our post around the joy of early mathematics, have you had a chance to engage with young children’s thinking? or notice more of the math around us? If not, no worries, this is just the beginning of our journey, and plethora of additional opportunities to enter into the amazing brain of young children are on their way.
For instance, in a couple of weeks, I will offer ideas of activities to develop counting skills. But first, let’s focus on an often forgotten number: zero. I mentioned that young children love BIG numbers but zero can also be quite an engaging, and fun, number to talk about.
Alas, zero is not a common number that young children are naturally exposed too. For instance, counting books often focus on numbers 1 to 10. In addition, our language makes the use of zero less prevalent than other numbers; one would say: “There are no horses outside”, not “There are zero horses outside”. Furthermore, one must understand that the usefulness of zero goes beyond describing the absence of something, as our whole base ten system is built on the use of ten digits, zero being one of them.
How regretful to keep such a magic number hidden further! Maurice, our first Tout-Triste, who finally came alive from our workshop this week, fully agrees and is tagging along this week as we share three ideas to expose young children to zero.
Make a die with a face with no dots
Dice, commonly used in all kinds of games, can be used at a young age. Indeed, dice are a powerful tool to develop counting skills through play. At first, young children count each dot, but with time, they can “see” the number of dots as they recognize the pattern for 5 dots, 6 dots, etc., and develop their subitizing skills, i.e., the ability to “see” a quantity without counting.
A great adaptation, though, is to go beyond the regular 1-dot to 6-dots dice, that Maurice is looking at, and make our own. Craft stores often sell wooden cubes, that can easily be used as dice.
Depending on the age of the child, one can create, for instance, a die with just up to 3 dots to start, or use numerals instead of dots, etc. On all, though, leave a face empty to represent zero. A child landing on zero can then be naturally exposed to the concept of zero as they have to stay put (or any other actions related to the game played, see a couple of examples here).
Read Anno’s counting book
A nurturing way to expose young children to math concepts is through picturebooks, and our blog regularly suggests titles full of math opportunities.
A book I highly recommend in view of the concept of zero is Anno’s counting book.
What a better way to start a counting book, than engaging young children through an empty page.
Even Maurice, often morose, was lift up.
Noticing the absence of things around us
Anno’s counting book can then be extended with endless discussions around zero, often leading to many giggles from young children.
“I see a number of dinosaurs outside. How many do you think I see?”
Giggles.
“Zero!!!”
Giggles, giggles.
Your turn now — how many unicorns do you have in your kitchen?
As always, please feel free to share your experiences in the comment section or through the contact form.
Thank you so much for being here, and “see” you next week.