How can we make a maths game suitable for kindergarten children?

Developed by grades 1- 4 at the Onøy/Lurøy primary school in Nordland county, winners of the Nysgjerrigper Annual Science Contest 2009, as well as the Technology and Design Award and the Mathematics Award.

This is what I wonder about

The teachers at the school have put greater focus on mathematics this year. So as far as they are concerned, it is natural that this year's Nysgjerrigper project should be about maths. The teachers begin a reflection process with the pupils. A lot of the questions that come up (e.g. how long is the Great Wall of China, how heavy are three packets of butter) do not lend themselves to reflection and enquiry. Nor is it easy to start with a "why" question. But they find the solution! The pupils are very keen on playing games and want to research how they can make a maths game suitable for the kindergarten children with whom they have their swimming lessons.

Why is it like this?

The groups discuss possible hypotheses. They are going to design a maths game for children between the ages of 3 and 6. The games must include numbers (but not numbers over 10), together with content the children enjoy (an activity they are doing, something about animals, educational) and must be "just right" (difficult, fun, exciting).

Foto: Onøy/Lurøy

Plan for the study

The pupils will visit the kindergarten and observe how the children play together. They work in five groups each with different tasks. They will interview both children and adults, make trial games and try out the games at two different kindergartens.

Gathering information

The children set to work full of enthusiasm and creativity. They start the project by playing games suited to their own age group to test out what is fun and what is difficult. After visiting the kindergartens they design interesting games. Then they try these games out at the kindergartens. At this stage they set up different stations for the various games for two or more kindergarten children. The pupils supervise and observe the games they have designed. After this activity, they write down on a flip chart what the kindergarten children like or find difficult.

Foto: Onøy/Lurøy

This is what I have found out

The pupils think it is strange when the words "enjoy" and "difficult" crop up for the same game, but realise that there are big differences between children in the 4 - 6 year age group. So they make adjustments to the games to improve them. The pupils also write out instructions for the games.

For their impressive study the children are awarded the main prize in the Nysgjerrigper Annual Science Contest. They also win two other prizes awarded in connection with the Nysgjerrigper Annual Science Contest 2009, the Mathematics Award and the Technology and Design Award.

View the project report (in Norwegin, PDF-file).

Translated by Carol B. Eckmann