It's never too early to play with shapes, sizes and numbers with your baby or toddler. It's not only the groundwork for educational understanding, it can help your child relate better to his surroundings, spacial awareness AND it is the basis of some of the most fun games and jokes! And stimulating your baby's development doesn't have to be hard work either.
Forget text books or trying to get your baby shortlisted for Oxbridge before his first birthday - allowing him to feel different textures of toys or even kitchen utensils (smooth wooden spoons, cold metal pots, clanking plastic cups and so on) is the basis for good mathematical understanding, without any tough sums to figure out! And now, Numberjacks are at hand to help, too...
Numberjacks - are on their way!
Based on the adventures of numbers one to nine, as characters who can come to the rescue to help solve everyday problems and mysteries, Numberjacks is on one level, just a lovely children's television programme with some colourful animation and comedy real-life footage fused entertainingly together. But on another level, it can help children to overcome a fear of numbers as horrid maths homework, or help them understand the basic building blocks of how numeracy works. (For example, dividing or multiplying is much more interesting a topic if it's all about items magically appearing to double or triple, or to shrink.)
Whether it's the maths or the comedy that appeals, the show has consistently proved to be CBeebies major hit ever since the show first appeared on television last autumn.
Now fans of the show and new viewers can check out the series on the first ever Numberjacks DVD, out this month priced £12.99. It's available now through all the major supermarkets and online from Amazon and play.com.
Fun for all ages
Cleverly, the numbers have been subtly characterised to represent their age. Thus, one and two are small and babyish in character, and numbers three to six (the core audience age-group for the series), are the fiesty ones who get to play a part in most of the adventures, with numbers seven to nine adding a touch of older-child authority to proceedings.
Produced by Open Mind Productions - who also created The Shiny Show and several educational television shows for children - Numberjacks is intended to be fun, with numeracy learning as an added bonus.
Creator Chris Ellis's own background is in teaching language and literature, but he has found that making the series throws up some intriguing aspects to making good children's television.
Number characters like 'four' are a little more 'square' and reliable - four being such a key, even number in general life and mathematics. Meanwhile, 'three' is a little more awkward but full of promise!
Interestingly, the makers have also found that the series is a huge hit with autistic children, and they have had a lot of parent feedback from those with children who are at school and whose maths skills have vastly improved since the show started.
You don't have to be a boffin to enjoy the series. It's colourful fun that roots adventures in the everyday life all children - big and small - can relate to. (Our heroes do, after all, live down the back of a sofa!)
For more about Numberjacks and the new DVD, check out the Open Mind website or visit the CBeebies website to play Numberjacks games.
