Ten ways to help your child with maths

Is your little one Numberblocks­-obsessed? If they're loving the adventures of One, Two, Three and friends, there's a lot you can do together to make the most of their interest and give them even more of a head start with numbers.

The Numberblocks animated TV series for kids follows friends who can always count on each other. From counting to calculating, each episode helps your child learn to love numeracy through vibrant characters and fun adventures.

Each episode has been carefully created with the help of the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics to educate your little ones about the essential foundations of numeracy.

While you're watching the show, keep up a running commentary - ask your child what they can see, what just happened or what they think will happen next. You might be surprised how quickly you're talking about maths ideas like size, shape, position or order.

Watch an episode together that you've seen before, take turns to press pause and describe what's happening. You can stick to the facts or say something silly. The other person shouts 'yes!' or 'don't be silly!' Little ones will love knowing more than you do. Repeating the story in a playful way will help to reinforce the maths ideas in the episode.

There's more to maths than counting! When you're watching or talking about Numberblocks with your child, try to ask questions beyond 'how many'. For example, ask what would happen if you changed something: a different Numberblock, or a friend joining in. Make connections and look for patterns. Use words like bigger/smaller, more/less, first/second/last, left/right or top/bottom/middle. Ask why!

Can your little one pretend to be a Numberblock? For example, to be Two, march around counting steps; one, two, one, two. For Four, collect four things to put in a square, and for Five count on your fingers then share a high five.

Use any sort of blocks you have to make a starter play set - stick your own faces on them and see if your child can line them up in order. Getting hands-on with blocks is a great way to learn how numbers work because little ones can try things out and physically see and feel what happens.

Grab some dice and your Numberblocks (or anything you can use to count) and play a game...

Use your blocks to play along as you watch Numberblocks. Pause the episode and get your child to copy what they see on screen - act out the number magic with your own blocks. You can also make up your own stories: what might happen on Five's birthday? What would the Numberblocks do if Two went missing?

Make your own Numberblocks from anything you have to hand - modelling clay, yoghurt pots, paper and crayons, or even Numberblocks-shaped toast, cheese cubes or fruit. You could even create new Numberblocks for even bigger numbers and talk about what they might like to do.

Encourage little ones to look for number patterns in their world - for example, you could ask how many eyes, buttons or arms does the robot have? Or even better, what does he have two of? How many wheels are there on either side of the car?

Take the Numberblocks with you when you're out and about and ask your little one Numberblocks questions about things you spot. For example, which Numberblock might live behind that front door? And who would live next door? Is this a good snack for Four? How could you fix it?

For those with school-aged children studying maths, you may find yourself thinking back to what you learned in school yourself. Teachers nowadays teach maths differently to what you may remember - step this way to find out how Numberblocks supports school maths, or to help your child be epic at maths.

The CBeebies website has video tutorials showing kids how to draw the Numberblocks, which can help them visualise quantities and the shape of the written number.

Little ones can listen to Numberblocks Tales, where the stars of the show enjoy mathematical adventures in Numberland, on CBeebies Radio.

CBeebies understands how important it is to offer children the opportunity to learn through play - that's why we enable kids to engage with the Numberblocks in lots of ways across the CBeebies website. Our Numberblocks shows page features games, quizzes, songs and activities to help them appreciate numbers before starting school and as they start to develop more understanding around numbers and what they can do.

 CBeebies has several free Numberblocks games that draw on the principles of the hit TV show, including:

You can watch Numberblocks on the CBeebies BBC iPlayer.

From phonics, to problem solving, colour theory to numeracy. Discover animated adventures with fun characters and songs in the Blocks Universe.

Is your child going back to school, or about to start school in September? Check out our CBeebies Starting School collection that could help, for example:

You can also check out CBeebies Parenting, with tips to support the skills your child needs to start school.