“Structured input does not have to be children sitting on the carpet with an adult talking to them or children sitting at a table with worksheets,” states Camilla Gilmore, professor of Mathematical Cognition at Loughbrough University.

In this episode, she explains how early years settings and parents can build on a child’s natural understanding of maths to move them to being able to better understand and manipulate number and shape. It may seem easiest to simply ‘tell’ children how to do this, but from the research we have into early numeracy, she believes that is not going to work.