What’s the Time Mr Dingo is just one of the maths games that has been developed for Territory preschoolers, aimed at engaging preschoolers in numeracy before they commence school.

As part of National Literacy and Numeracy Week, a suite of interactive maths games for pre-schoolers has been rolled out by the Department of Education. The resources focus on numbers and counting, shapes and spatial thinking, patterns and structure and measurement.

Susan Bowden, General Manager of Early Childhood Education and Care, Department of Education said that new resources provide teachers with adaptable examples of play-based maths activities.

“Learning and development in the early years is critical to improving and maximising a child’s learning when they reach school,” Ms Bowden said.

“By having these resources available to all early childhood educators across the Territory, it will allow them to feel adequately prepared to support young children in their learning of maths.

“The resources are aimed at giving educators more ideas and inspiration when it comes to teaching children numeracy and equips children to transition successfully into ‘mainstream’ school education.

“Introducing maths through hands-on, interactive play engages children in learning early as it is appropriate to their age and builds on skills that children have been taught by their parents at home.” 

The games have been developed to suit the Territory’s context and can be adapted depending on the needs of individual children. For example, What’s the Time Mr Dingo is the Territory version of the classic What’s the Time Mr Wolf, helping children learn numbers in words and match numbers with steps.

Malak Primary School is one school that has been trialling the maths games, with the support of a team of researchers from University of Melbourne.

Principal of Malak Primary School, Lorraine Evans said the games added to the quality program and service provided at the school, which has seen the preschool achieve an ‘exceeding quality rating’.

“At Malak Preschool, it is our philosophy that our students should be learning through play and language and the maths games resources compliment this philosophy perfectly,” Ms Evans said.

“The maths games, which are used on a daily basis, place a greater emphasis on numeracy and encourage more mathematical language to be used in the classroom. 

“Children were hungry to play with the games and were actually choosing to get the maths games out to continue learning.

“It’s fantastic that schools in the Territory have been offered this resource. If we get teaching numeracy right in preschool, we are setting our kids up for success.”

The resources, which are linked to the preschool curriculum, have been developed by University of Melbourne.

This resource is available to all schools and professional development sessions will be held to support the implementation of this resource into preschools.

Media – for further information contact Joss Wyer 0401 119 215