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Mathematics through play in the early years: Activities and ideas By Kate Tucker (Paul Chapman, 1 4129 0394 7, 16.99, 020 7324 8500)

Reviewed by Sheila Ebbutt, director of BEAM and co-ordinator of the Early Childhood Mathematics Group

This is a very welcome book. Kate Tucker is an enthusiast, with lots of experience in teaching young children, and in thinking about how best they should learn maths. The focus is, rightly, on play, and she makes a clear distinction between practitioner-led and child-initiated activities. She gives a brief and readable background to the theories of children's learning and the importance of play.

Heartwarmingly, the author includes in her scope for the early years the Foundation Stage, Year 1 and Year 2. What a mistake it has been to assume that Y1 and 2 children should not play, but should have their noses to the grindstone! The nub of the book is in the author's statement: 'Play must be well planned and resourced, highly valued and involve quality interaction with adults.' We are given a wealth of ideas on resourcing all the areas of the setting, including outdoors, for creative mathematical activity.