Exploring relationships
The children’s number sense and mathematical
reasoning is being developed through working with these
materials as though they are puzzles. We see this in
their awareness of ‘small’ and ‘big’
and in their ability to recognise the role that a block
plays in the building up of a total. Before number names
and numerals are presented, the foundation for the later
comprehension of arithmetic will be laid down.
Children should be able to perform the following tasks:
 Counting
Board
- To put each block in the groove where it fits
- To find the block for the groove you indicate
- To realise when a block is ‘too small’
or ‘too big’ for the groove and to find
the one that fits
- To know where each block ‘lives’ in
the sequence
 Pattern
Boards
- To recognise the matching pattern board for any
cube pattern you build
- To be able to build the pattern with cubes for any
board you show them
- To build the sequence, from the 'smallest' to the
'largest' amount
- To know where each pattern 'lives' in the sequence
 10-Box
- To fit together the blocks so they form the combinations
which fill the 10-box
- To build a staircase with the blocks from ‘the
smallest’ to ‘the largest’ block
- To find the missing block when one ‘step’
has been removed
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