Matthew (3 years, 9 months) drew one of

his favourite storybook engines, 'James the

Red Engine', and '5' was the number of the

engine. Matthew was very interested in

numbers, not only on trains, but also in bus

numbers and their destination of buses.

The Maths: Writing numbers

The Taxonomy: Numerals as labels

Louisa made what appeared to be a clock. 

In this setting the children in each group 

had limited choices for play. When Louisa

explained her dial, she assigned an activity

to each number: "1 - bricks; 2 - puzzles; 

3 - role-play; 4 - reading; 5 - painting".
She paused with her finger on '6', then 

smiling explained, "Then you have a

sleep". Moving the hand on her dial she

paused at the letters 'fo' (off), adding

"This is where you turn it off".

The Maths: Writing numbers

The Taxonomy: Numerals as labels

At snack time, Harry (4 years, 5 months)

and his friends had been discussing

caravans. Harry said that his grandma

was staying in a caravan a bit further away,

and that her caravan had a kitchen and a

sofa. He decided to represent his

grandma's caravan, adding that its "long

number is '12148' ".

The maths: Number

The Taxonomy: Numerals as labels; early

written numerals