Mathematics in the EYFS: Space - Up and down

The whereabouts of an object is always described in relation to something else: the pan is on the stove, the school is next to the shops, the balloon is above the tree. Instructions on how to get somewhere include direction words: left, right, up, down. Instructions on how far to go include measuring words: one step, a minute's walk, ten metres away.

Identifying the position of objects and places eventually includes measurement and scale. In order to say where on the shelves the bricks are, you need two pieces of information: the third shelf up and the fourth pigeon-hole along from the left. Having two location references can increase the accuracy of directions (as with plans and maps).

POSITION AND DIRECTION

How children learn

Children learn about space by doing all the things they naturally enjoy: running everywhere, pedalling forward, climbing up and down, sliding down and along, crawling through, crouching underneath, getting inside, lying down flat ... They learn by deciding where to put the horse in the farmyard or the people in the house, and how to arrange the cars on the play mat and the dinosaurs in the sand tray. Adults around them provide the language to describe what the children are doing.

Helping children learn

- Provide activities and games in which children are asked to place themselves: in front of, behind or beside a friend; between two chairs. Ask them to talk through how they negotiate an obstacle course.

- Set up play scenes with small-world equipment, then talk with children about where to put various objects. Take turns with a child: they tell you where to put an object, then you tell the child where to put the next one. Make model gardens and use shallow trays and sand to create dinosaur worlds.

- Play 'hide and seek the teddy' by putting Teddy in a secret place. The finder has to describe where he was found. Search for a magic shell and say whether children are close or far away when looking for it.

- Draw maps and go on walks, take digital photos of the walk and recreate the journey.

- Encourage children to practise putting things away in the top drawer in the far cupboard, or on the shelves near the bookcase.

- Provide activities in which children move themselves in different ways and in different directions - round the mulberry bush, following the leader, dancing, or using hoops and balls.

- Set up situations where children give instructions to other children on how to travel around the outdoor area. Use computer toys such as floor robots that need directional instructions.

- Install a computer program where children can paint and draw using a moveable paintbrush. Build a walkway where children have to follow footprints or a rope.

Progression

- Makes arrangements with materials such as bricks or small-world objects

- Begins to follow simple instructions involving positional language such as under and on top of

- Talks about arrangements made with materials such as bricks or small-world objects

- Begins to use simple positional and directional information to find hidden objects

- Draws a simple map or picture showing two objects in particular locations

- Uses more complex positional and directional clues to find hidden object

- Describes a simple journey

- Instructs a progammable toy

CHILD-INITIATED PLAY

Driving round town

In the outdoor area provide a large play road mat, or paint roads on to a plastic ground sheet. Mark out a level car park with individual car spaces. Provide large toy cars and diggers to give the children experience of movement, direction and position. Develop the play by using display shelving as a multi-storey car park, and encourage the children to park their vehicles in each of the car parks.

Building the tunnel

Set up the construction area as a tunnel-building site. Use large bricks to build tunnel walls and provide a piece of material to be the tunnel roof. Resource the area with construction hard-hats and goggles.

Develop the play by providing a programmable robot toy, such as a Roamer, to carry messages through the tunnel between the building teams.

Circuit-training commentators

In the outdoor area, construct a small circular course that includes apparatus for climbing on and over, a tunnel to crawl through, and a box to get into. Include hoops to climb through, and a line of cones to zigzag around. Provide hand-held microphones, walkie-talkies or megaphones so that children can give a commentary on the circuits others are doing:

And now they are crawling through the tunnel.

Everybody has climbed over the frame.

Adult-led activities

Hunt the teddy

Cover a table with boxes, lids, polystyrene cups and other recycled materials. Hide a smallish teddy somewhere on the table. Take it in turns to be the hider and searcher. As the child looks under boxes and inside cups, you and the other children give clues about where to look for the hidden teddy:

Teddy's inside something.

Teddy's next to a round pot.

Under the sea

Give each child a piece of blue felt to represent the sea floor and a collection of shells and sea creatures to arrange on their material. When the children have arranged everything, tell them that you are going to make up an under-the-sea story and they have to arrange their creatures to match what's happening in the story:

All the crabs were huddling under a shell.

The fish were all swimming together between the rocks.

Along came a large lobster and it sat on top of some seaweed.

PROVISION

Woodwork area

- Provide woodworking tools, balsa wood and sticks, off-cuts of wood, cardboard frames.

- Make a big picture without using paper. Saw and arrange some blocks, shapes and sticks and nail together.

- Discuss the position of the different features in the picture. Frame the picture and take a photo.

- Use wooden blocks of one shape but different sizes to create a modern building feature. Where will you put that piece? What else did you manage to fit inside?

ICT area

- Provide Roamer, Pip or BeeBot programmable robots, range of clockwork toys, elastic bands, paper and pens.

- Programme the robot to make forward movements and right turns. Attach a felt-tip to record the journey.

- Attach pens with elastic bands to clockwork toys and set the toys in motion. Discuss and compare the journey recordings.

- Children pretend to be robots and make straight line and right-turn movements. Attach pens to children's ankles to record the journeys. Did you go on different routes around the room? How will we remember which way you went?

IMPORTANT WORDS AND PHRASES

over, under, underneath, above, below, top, bottom, on, in, outside, inside, in front of, behind, front, back, before, after, beside, next to, forwards, backwards, sideways, close, far, opposite, between

ASSESSING CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENT

IF A CHILD

- Arranges flat shapes or builds with blocks

- Describes where something is imprecisely: using 'on' to mean 'above', 'beside' or 'near to'

- Follows simple instructions, such as 'stand on the rung' or 'look under the chair'

THEN THEY MAY BE ON THIS STEP

- Show interest in shape by making arrangements with objects

- Observe and use positional language show curiosity

IF A CHILD

- Talks about where things are in a picture or small-world scene

- Points out something they want you to look at, using language such as' here', 'there', 'up' and' down', and corrects you when you look in the wrong direction

THEN THEY MAY BE ON THIS STEP

- Show interest by talking about arrangements

- Adapt their behaviour to different events, social situations and changes in routine

IF A CHILD

- Describes the movement of an object using language such as 'up', 'in front', 'behind', 'between', 'forwards', 'backwards', 'sideways'

- Describes a walk or journey that they have taken

- Talks about how things move: car wheels, an aeroplane, a jointed doll

- Follows two or more instructions, such as 'go under the ladder, then through the hoop'

- Programs the floor turtle to move along a path

THEN THEY MAY BE ON THIS STEP

- Find items from positional/directional clues

- Describe a simple journey

- Instruct a programmable toy

- Operate independently within the environment

IF A CHILD

- Sends you in the right direction to find an object they have hidden

- Describes two or more movements of an object using language such as 'first it went up in the air, then it went behind the curtain, then it went in the basket'

THEN THEY MAY BE ON THIS STEP

- Use everyday words to describe position

- Form good relationships with adults and peers

IF A CHILD

- Follows instructions about where to position a doll: in front of, beside the tree, between two chairs

- Follows a wide range of instructions about getting through an obstacle course: 'climb over the bench, cross the mat, go round the skittle and along the next bench ...'

- Gives instructions to other children: 'go around the stool, step into the hoop, jump on to the mat ...'

- Sort and talk about things that turn, roll or slide

THEN THEY MAY BE ON THIS STEP

- Use mathematical language to describe solid 3D objects and flat 2D shapes

- Sustain involvement and persevere, particularly when trying to solve a problem or reach a satisfactory conclusion

ABOUT THIS SERIES

This series aims to:

- build on practitioners' knowledge of how children acquire numeracy skills

- offer ideas on how to help children develop these skills.

Each part will focus on an aspect of numeracy included within the 'problem-solving, reasoning and numeracy' area of learning in the EYFS.

Authors Sheila Ebbutt and Carole Skinner are managing director and product development manager, respectively, of BEAM, which is dedicated to promoting excellence in mathematics education.

Photos at Oak Tree Nursery, Ilfracombe, Devon by Jim Wileman.