The creation of exciting, child centred investigations, and sensorial opportunities for mathematics in the early years is a motivational approach to the teaching of mathematics that has been supported by many regions in Scotland, from Highland in the North, to South Ayrshire in the South. As with all good approaches, this has come about from years of working with young children in challenging environments where seat-based experiences were wholly inappropriate and unachievable. In these environments the need to consider intrinsic motivation, sensorial learning, and child centred planning set out within a rich stimulating environment was essential if the centres and schools were to develop positive spaces to play and learn. This approach has stayed with me across all the areas I now work.

Mathematics is the subject of this article, although many of the strategies and beliefs could have been set within any area of the curriculum. In Scotland mathematics is embedded in the 3-5 curriculum strand called Knowledge and Understanding of the World, so that it is viewed as integral to life experiences, rather than as a discrete subject. When children enter school at Primary 1, mathematics becomes a discrete subject in the 5-14 curriculum but with clear guidelines that it should be presented through a balance of exposition, enquiry, problem solving and discussion. The situation does of course vary across provision and following observations the summaries collated identified the predominant use of worksheet based schemes, or the promotion of didactic adult directed maths lessons. It was within this framework that discrete in-service training, support materials, site visits to model strategy and team action planning were put together to support centres in their development of a motivational approach to mathematics.

There were a number of beliefs and values that were brought together to create the vision for Motivational Mathematics, a few are detailed in this article.

Numeracy should be presented in a way that is reponsive to the motivational interests of the group.

Observations identified that children chose 'not to' engage in a mathematical activity when it was offered in the nursery. The sensorial nature of most children meant that plastic counters and resources on offer in mathematical zones were not 'interesting' to the children.They offered little other than a visual colour. The resources themselves became a focus, both in their open ended use, and also their sensorial nature.

Children have motivational keys that can be used to engage them in learning. Broad elements such as ownership and choice through to schema like behaviours such as filling and emptying, enclosing, transporting. This knowledge is used to affect the way that the resources were presented; small boxes, bags and unusual containers which have a 'richness' were all included in the play environment.

Numeracy should be presented to children through a balanced variety of methods that appeal to different learning styles.

There is a great deal of evidence now in education that children have different learning styles, that influences the way they learn most effectively. This evidence can be transferred to the methodology that is used to present any aspect of the curriculum. Mathematics is seen traditionally as a logical, precise subject with clear correct answers, resources and often the methods used to teach mathematics follow this route, and yet part of mathematics is about creative thought, and resources and the methods used to teach it can be child centred and creative.

Through monitoring the balance of opportunities to ensure that there were some logical and precise activities such as creating giant numerals from lengths of ribbon and chain, through to abstract, creative mathematical storytelling with its open nature of pure exploration. The resources were a balance of creative, muliti-sensory ones such as pretend rose petals, wooden balls, gems and also logical and precise ones such as the tiny earthenware bricks (Teifoc), or jumbo sticks.

Children's ideas and existing knowledge should create the starting point for learning.

In order to learn effectively we need to be taken forward from the point that we are exploring. Some of the HMI reports on the quality of early years settings identified the need to challenge children. This was from the earliest experiences of sorting to their life experiences of contextual mathematics.

In Motivational Mathematics, Talking and Thinking Books® collated the thinking of the children, so that the need to repeat numerals or concepts that they could already handle was avoided. When asked the question, 'What do you know about numbers?' Many children offered the classic. 1,2,3,4,5, and then stopped as if to say 'that is it, we are only supposed to do numbers to 5'. When they were given just a little longer and an atmosphere of support, they suggested:

• "my grannies number is as big as a tree"
• "24, no, no, bigger make it double, make it 48"
• "4329 is the number on my shoe... look"

It is this knowledge of number that should be the start of learning, not a generic statement in a document, that is often a base line of minimal expectation. The curriculum in Scotland is a framework and should be used flexibly.

Children should see themselves as mathematical thinkers, without the restriction of correctness.

Some people view mathematics as a precise, right and wrong situation and yet pure mathematicians talk about a new language, a creative, experimental way of thinking. This attitude of exuberance should be developed in our youngest children so that they are not scared to have a go, to try out a new method without fear of failure. Giving children mini talking and thinking books enable children to have the freedom to reflect on their thinking. The Thinking Tree gives children the opportunity to record any ideas on leaves that hang on the tree. One little 3 year boy stood beside an adult and talked her through all the number bonds to 10, explaining that it was a good trick, and he had loads more he could write for her!! When you consider that prior to this experience he was only given numeral puzzles to 5, and dot to dot on numeral shapes of 1and 2 It does make one wonder at the unknown potential of many children in our early years centres and how they cope with the boredom.

Learning should start with the children's home language and contexts for understanding.

Martin Hughes talks about the challenge of creating a link between home based learning and centre based experiences. The difference in experience flows through everything from vocabulary ,e.g. When did you last ask for a circular biscuit? Through the context e.g. Shopping rather than worksheets, to the resources e.g. Mass through handling real potatoes rather than plastic food in the home corner.

Through replicating home based experiences in our early years centres we can support children in their play. Real food in the home corner, with cereal packets stuffed and weighted and sealed, environmental print such as clocks and recipe books, open ended resources such as wool to make into lengths of spagetti all give a rich environment for learning about mathematical concepts.

Adults and children should develop a positive attitude to numeracy and mathematics.

Through the inservice courses there were a number of practitioners who identified an area of development as personal motivation in the area of mathematics. Through allowing people, both children and adults, to follow a route that is flexible to their personal interest it is possible to support and guide rather than direct learning. Making giant number lines from wicker rings and woven balls of different weights and sizes, creating mathematical story aprons, collecting sensorial resources, measuring and constructing rat dens outside, sprinkling tiny number confetti from the fairies were only some of the play experiences created through this collaborative approach. Children's ideas are so much better than those from schemes.

Children are encouraged to develop mental images rather than 'sums'.

There are so many mathematical concepts that can be explored through play. When we consider numeracy, or even just counting, the need to explore the underlying principles such as the one to one principle, ordinal principle, cardinal principle can really only be developed through physically handling materials in active ways. The number line could be presented on a strip, or cards on a line but how much more exciting would it be to create a number line of wicker rings, each one with a different smell, or perhaps texture. With a ball basket filled with wicker balls, marble, metallic, stainless steel, wooden, fabric, fluffy with a variety of properties such as size, mass, opacity, sound, and texture. The children often automatically start sharing out the balls, talking, dancing and often hopping along the line to get to a ring of their choosing. Introduction of small pieces of paper leads children to mark making, with their own ideas of number, At the beginning the decoration of the line with numbers is random, although through experience children often have a clear understanding of ordinal number, but they do not limit themselves to numbers 1-5, they often make the end of the line in the region of a million!! Through revisting this experience over time children use their own numbers, re-write them, throw them away in the challenge of problem solving. They create links in learning, bringing in knowledge from books, friends, family, resources e.g. Smaller spheres so more fit in the ring, computor numbers.

This sensorial approach to mathematics has been integrated into early years centres across Scotland, and seems to be motivating children and adults to get the buzz about mathematics.

This article is based on Claire Warden's new motivational maths book due out in 2007/8.