Relations between play skills and mathematical skills in toddlers

Elin Reikerås

doi:10.1007/s11858-020-01141-1

Elin Reikerås

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-020-01141-1

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Abstract

Play is central to children’s learning and development in the early years, including the learning of mathematics. The aim of the present study was to explore how play skills are related to mathematical skills in toddlers by examining the correlations between different kinds of play skills and mathematical skills, and how level of play skills is related to mathematical skills. The participants were 1088 toddlers in Norwegian Early Childhood and Care institutions who were observed by the staff in 3-month periods beginning when they were 2½ years old. The skills in mathematics and play were assessed by structured observation. The overall scores for play skills and the scores for all types of play skills correlated significantly with the scores for all mathematical areas and the total score for mathematics. The skills Interaction in Play and Independence in Play displayed the strongest correlations with mathematical skills. Rule-based Play was difficult for the toddlers, whereas Pretend Play and Exploring and Construction Play correlated with mathematical skills and may be types of play that are more suitable when introducing mathematics in toddler groups. When the group of toddlers was divided into three subgroups according to their level of play skills, the level of play skills was strongly related to the level of mathematical skills. Toddlers with weak, middle or strong play skills also exhibited corresponding low, medium or high levels of mathematics skills, which emphasises the importance of understanding the relations between play and mathematical learning when working with toddlers.

Highlights

Play is essential in the lives of young children, as it is important for their well-being, development and learning (Pellegrini et al 2007); in addition, play has value in itself (Samuelsson and Carlsson 2008)
The aim of the present study was to analyse the relationship between play skills and mathematical skills in toddlers, by examining the correlations between overall scores, the scores for different kinds of play skills and mathematical skills, and how level of play skills is related to mathematical skills
To explore the correlations between mathematical skills and play skills Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were calculated both between the total score for mathematical skills (MIO total) and the total scores for play skills, and between the scores for different play sections and the different sections in MIO (Table 3)

Summary

Introduction

Play is essential in the lives of young children, as it is important for their well-being, development and learning (Pellegrini et al 2007); in addition, play has value in itself (Samuelsson and Carlsson 2008). Knowledge about the relations between play skills and skills in mathematics in toddlers is still lacking Knowledge of these possible relationships may be important when planning mathematical activities with young children. In teacher-organised play, called guided play or structured play, the teacher sets the rules and initiates the play (Synodi 2010) In this type of play, the teacher often uses play to achieve specific learning goals, and play often adopts the form of games (Hassinger-Das et al 2018). The third approach Synodi mentions is mutual directed play, in which the teacher gets involved in children’s free play in a nondisruptive manner (Henry 1990). Mutual directed play is the opposite of teachers’ interrupting the children’s play and taking control of the play in order to teach rules or concepts in the curriculum (Henry 1990)

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