Below are three creative learning activities for young children to build their numeracy and math creativity:
### 0-2 Years: **"Colourful Sensory Number Bags"**
- Stuff small cloth bags with various objects that symbolize numbers (e.g., 3 soft balls, 5 cloth rings). Have the child examine each bag, shaking, squeezing, or playing with the objects. In the process of play, the teacher can quietly add counting by saying simple statements such as "Let's count the balls!" This sensory activity assists children in gaining an initial understanding of quantity, texture, and size in a creative, experiential manner (Holistic Learning, 2022).
### 2-3 years: "**Nature Shape Hunt**
- Go out with the children and have a "Nature Shape Hunt." Ask them to go around and pick up naturally occurring objects such as leaves, rocks, or sticks that resemble shapes (circle, square, triangle). Children can pick up these items and create their own shapes or simple patterns by arranging them in a sequence. This brings mathematics into contact with nature and encourages children to use imagination to look for shapes and patterns in daily environments (Holistic Learning, 2022).
### 3-5 Years: "**Build Your Own Number Garden**"
- Offer children paper or foam flowers and mark each petal with a number (1-10). Children can decorate materials such as markers, stickers, or stamps to put designs on the same number of petals (e.g., 3 dots, 5 stars). Children can "plant" their number flowers in a garden grid on the wall or floor. This exercise blends numeracy, pattern construction, and imagination, asking children to learn from numbers through artwork and developing an enriched numeracy sense. The exercises promote imagination as they construct the building blocks of critical mathematics in an engaging, experiential manner (Holistic Learning, 2022).