Why do we use Numicon?

From our own observations we were aware that our 7-year-old Dave found Maths difficult, but it wasn’t until Lockdown 2020 when we discovered exactly how much he had been struggling with the simplest of mathematical concepts. We had approached school on numerous occasions with our concerns only to be met with comments such as “He is fine in class” and “He is meeting expected targets for his age”. During our final meeting with the SENCO in January 2020, I asked if there was a possibility that, due to Dave’s hypervigilance, could he be meeting expected targets by copying his peers? Within a week of this meeting, Dave was invited to an after-school Maths club. We were not given any details of who the club was for or why he had been asked to attend.

A few weeks later we entered Lockdown. When I started to teach Dave (7) and Tilly (6) the degree of stress that Maths was causing Dave soon became clear. At this point I couldn’t understand how school had failed to identify how much he was struggling with concepts such as addition and subtraction, and terminology such as more than and less than. During the next few weeks, I tried hard to plan sessions using a variety strategies to help him engage, including the use of games such as dominoes, dice games, board games, number lines, interactive videos, YouTube, counting blocks and interactive lessons but he was still struggling to understand and retain basic mathematical concepts.

Numicon was recommended to me by my cousin, who has used the strategy for many years in her educational setting. When we started using numicon it was like a light bulb had been switched on for Dave. However, my initial observation was that although Dave understood numicon and could use it very well, he couldn’t yet transfer the concept..

What is Numicon?

Learning about numbers is a highly abstract concept that can be difficult for young children to understand. Children can struggle to make the connection between a number and the value that the number represents, which in turn can cause anxiety.

Numicon supports and develops a child’s understanding of number by using the concrete, pictorial, abstract concept. the aim being that by providing a concrete object that a child can touch and feel, number becomes reality.

How Numicon Works

Each Numicon shape has holes which represent a number from 1-10 (see picture below)

There are typically four areas for progression and development.

Pattern: finding shapes that match and stacking them on the peg board.

Ordering: sequencing the shapes from the smallest to largest number, and vice versa.

Counting: counting each hole one by one to discover and explore what number the piece represents.

Early calculating: using the numicon pieces to solve simple problems, for example working out that a five-piece and a four-piece are equal to a nine-piece.

By giving children something physical to explore, in conjunction with written number, they develop confidence and a greater understanding, which leads to higher achievement.

Numicon, from EYFS - Key Stage 2

EYFS: Playing with the shape as an object, use with playdough to make an imprint of the shape, use numicon boards to create patterns and shapes, develop mathematical language and vocabulary, use numicon pegs to build towers, begin to understand more than and less than, playing matching games with numicon pieces.

Key Stage 1

Throughout Key Stage One, numicon can be used to help children develop their ability to “see” a number. At this stage, numicon can support the learning of geometry, symmetry, times tables, sharing and weight, for example: one ten piece weighs the same as two 5-pieces. Children can continue to learn and explore patterns, order numbers, explore tens and ones, add and subtract, explore odd and even numbers and explore number bonds to 10 by using a 10-piece and sitting other number shapes on top, for example: a 6-piece and a 4-piece.

Key Stage 2

As children become more confident with numbers, they will naturally progress from physical props to drawing pictures, formal written and eventually mental maths. However, numicon can still be very useful at Key Stage 2 for example when introducing a new concept such as fractions, to show what a fraction of a number looks like.

Numicon Kits

There are a variety of Numicon Kits available on Amazon depending on the age of your child/children. When I was choosing which kit would suit us best, I took into consideration that I would be using it with two children for at least the next 5 years. Therefore, I wanted enough pieces that would allow each child to use it simultaneously. The pack we decided to buy was The Breaking Barriers One to One Apparatus Pack which contains: 2 x Numicon Baseboards, 1 x Feely Bag, 2 Large Format Tabletop Number Lines, 1 x 80 Coloured Pegs, 1 x Box of Numicon Shapes, 1 x Number Bond Overlays for Baseboard 1 x Picture Overlays for Baseboard, 2 x 20 pack of Numicon, 1-Shapes, 2 x 10 pack of Numicon 10-Shapes, 1 x Set of 2 Numicon Spinners with Overlays, 1 x Set of 4 Numicon Dice, 3 x 0-31 Number Line, 1 x 10s Number, Line1 x 1-100 Number Cards,3 x 0-100cm Number Line.

The Oxford Owl website https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/maths/numicon-guide-for-parents/ offers free downloadable numicon worksheets and videos to help parents and carers to support their child/children in all areas of Maths from Reception to year six, you can find further downloadable worksheets on Google images. We have been using Numicon for almost eight months and Dave is making good progress, we are hoping Dave will continue to make further progress, eventually progressing to understand written and mental maths.