Playground Markings Numeracy Games to Start with “0”?

Number based playground markings starting at 0

first4playgrounds are now offering the option of having number based playground markings starting at 0. We are introducing this option in response to new recommendations by educational consultants in Scotland. Preschool KS1 and nursery children traditionally learn to count numbers from 1 upwards but consultants recognised that learning to count from 0 improved their understanding of adding, subtracting, and how 1000’s, 100’s, 10’s, units and decimal points work.

The importance of learning Maths from an early age has also been recognized by education secretary Michael Gove as vital in the development of industry and producing adults with strong reasoning abilities. There are current plans to make maths compulsory up until the age of 18 in all schools throughout the UK. At a recent talk to the Royal Society Gove commented,

“One of the lessons from the international evidence is that in East Asia there is much greater focus on fundamental number concepts, fractions and the building blocks of algebra in primary school. They have minimum standards that they aim to get practically all children to reach so they have a firm foundation for secondary. It may be, therefore, that we will adopt the same approach”.

first4playgrounds have a large range of school playground markings that support numeracy learning. Number Grids, Number snakes and various animals , Number ladders.