How to Teach Maths Through Play (Without Worksheets)

Early Years Maths Through Active Learning

Ages 3 to 5 · EYLF 2.0 aligned · 67-page PDF · Play-based

Most educators know maths belongs in their program. The hard part is the how. How do you move past rote counting? How do you write up mathematical thinking in a learning story when all you have on the page is “counted to five”? How do you talk about subitising or spatial reasoning in your documentation? Maths With Intention answers those questions, practically, and without a single worksheet in sight.

This is the guide I wanted when I first tried to teach maths through play and could not find anything that showed me what it actually looks like in the room. It runs 67 pages, for early childhood educators, kindergarten teachers and ECT students who want to teach maths the way the EYLF intends: through play, movement, language and intentional teaching moments.

The part educators tell me they value most is the documentation language. A subitising game does not help you write the observation. This guide hands you the EYLF-linked wording you can lift straight into your learning stories, so the teaching and the writing-up finally line up.

What’s inside

✔ My story: how I taught my son to count to 1000 using Montessori and Zaitsev methods, and what it taught me about how children build number sense
✔ What early numeracy really means: number sense, pattern, measurement, spatial reasoning, data sense and mathematical language, in plain English
✔ Early maths and the EYLF 2.0: how mathematical thinking maps onto Outcome 4 and Outcome 5, with sentence starters for your observations and learning stories
✔ Theory made practical: Dienes, Vygotsky, Piaget, Howard Gardner and Zaitsev, written for the play-based room
✔ Counting songs at circle time: my three go-to songs and the movement that makes them stick
✔ Go-to room resources: using the number line and 100-chart as daily active teaching tools
✔ 12 ready-to-run group activities for circle time and small groups
✔ First Nations mathematics: embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, drawing on the QCAA Mathematics Storytelling resource and the 8 Aboriginal Ways of Learning
✔ Quick reference for writing a maths observation, with sentence starters you can use the next time you sit down to document
✔ Language guide, What to Say When: prompts for counting, comparing, building, problem-solving and extending

Who it’s for

✔ Early childhood educators working under the EYLF 2.0
✔ Kindergarten and preschool teachers in Australia, New Zealand and any play-based setting
✔ Educators studying for or holding a Bachelor’s or Master’s of Early Childhood Education
✔ Educational leaders building pedagogical practice across a centre
✔ Relief ECTs, family day care educators and nannies who want to teach maths confidently in any room
✔ University students on placement

Why this guide is different

Australian early childhood is firmly play-based and firmly anti-worksheet. The catch is that most educators have never been shown what intentional maths teaching looks like without them. This guide shows you, with real classroom photos, real children, and the EYLF-aligned language you can put straight into your documentation. It is grounded in more than 18 years of teaching, a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Early Childhood Education, and certified Zaitsev training. Read it once, then open it weekly for the rest of your career.

Think of it as a play-based maths PD session you can return to any week, at a fraction of a course price.

Format: 67-page A4 PDF. Print, laminate, or read on screen. Yours to keep.

About Storykate

I’m Kate, an early childhood teacher, university educator and certified Zaitsev teacher, and the educator behind Storykate. I make practical, evidence-based resources that help Australian educators feel the EYLF is achievable on a Tuesday afternoon. You’ll find me on YouTube at @Storykate, where the counting songs from this guide are free to sing along with.

Cheers, Kate / Storykate 🪇