Teach-Early-Years-14.1

At this stage they will be assigning wholly unrealistic prices, but that doesn’t matter; the key is assigning different values to different items and talking about their reasons. A similar activity would be to give 10 objects and 10 different pre-made price labels, prompting children to debate which label should be attached to which item. I’d also argue that EYFS teachers should have a clear view of the major potential money misconceptions and address those head- on. Why isn’t there a 3p or 4p coin? Isn’t a big 2p coin worth more than a little 5p coin? And if I’ve got three coins, surely I’ve got more money than that other boy who’s only got one coin? The latter two misconceptions here are both about recognising the value of the coins, rather than paying attention Teachearlyyears.com 41 A s an NQT in Year 1 just under 10 years ago, I loved teaching the money unit. Children already had a tonne of useful knowledge and experiences, and they did really well as we tackled the various concepts in class. Fast forward to today and things have changed: the proliferation of contactless payments has dramatically affected many children’s early understanding of money. So what to do about it? My take is that before children begin KS1 maths units on money, there are some broader concepts we need to embed in the EYFS. Firstly, using money is about an exchange. Tapping pretend debit cards doesn’t model this, so we need to set up activities where children are physically exchanging coins for stuff. Secondly, children should learn that we can exchange money for services, not only physical goods. So as well as playing shop, set up an area for them to sell and provide services. Something they can actually do would usually be better: for example, a window cleaning business using your window onto an outside space would be more realistic and a lot less calamitous than a hairdressers! Third, children should practise attaching different values to different things. When they play shop, make sure they have opportunities to assign prices to items for themselves, talking about how much something might be worth. to other features like the size and/or number of coins. To support children with this, consider using “pre-money tokens”: circles for 1p, 2p, 5p and 10p that show the correct number of spots (read more at tinyurl.com/TEYpmtk) before introducing representations of the actual coins. Lastly, rather than rushing children towards KS1 concepts such as making amounts in different ways, the most efficient way, or understanding change, my view is that EYFS teachers should use money as a motivating and meaningful context through which to further practise the essential “count, compare, compose” skills that we know are so essential to making good progress in early maths. Play “Do I have enough?” to practise comparing numbers and “What can I buy with 10p?” to practise addition and number bonds. If the concept of change does come up and children are curious, model it as ensuring a fair swap, drawing attention to the critical concept of equality (if I give 10p, I should get a 6p lolly and 4p change). With these general maths essentials more secure, children will be well set to thrive when they encounter money in KS1. And as for the contactless payments issue… It won’t go away, but we can talk to parents, explaining the immense value of young children applying their emerging mathematical understanding in their lives outside school. Supported by vibrant full colour diagrams and illustrations, Small Numbers, Big Ideas explains essential concepts for teaching early maths in an accessible, straight-to-the- point format. Follow Jo on X @ mathswithin10, BlueSky @joausten or LinkedIn @joausten JO AUSTEN IS THE AUTHOR OF SMALL NUMBERS, BIG IDEAS Contactless payments have dramatically changed children’s early experiences of money. Teaching it well in the EYFS is more important than ever, says Jo Austen … Making sense of money Children should practise attaching different values to different things