Age

Children are surrounded by the concept of age. They are often separated into age groups in childcare, adults often ask children how old they are, and birthdays are significant events in the early years.

Children may be learning that older people have more rights and opportunities. They may talk about their age and judge other children because of their age.

The educational benefits of age include measuring skills.

Learning opportunities

Learn about age groups

Children can learn about age groups:

• adults
• babies
• children
• elderly people.

Learning experiences

Make a graph to visualise age

Teach children to record data about their world. Firstly, create a bar graph to show how many children in the group are of a certain age. Next, print and cut out a photo of each child, and glue their picture in the column for their age. Finally, count the number of children in each column.

Play a counting circle game

Teach counting, numbers and age during a quick circle time activity. Each child has a turn to say their name, how old they are, and give the number of claps for their age.

Example: "I am Sophia, I am five years old" (five claps).

Combine age groups

Rooms in childcare centres can exist in isolation from each other. Bring children of different age groups together for shared learning experiences.

Examples:

Every day, a different preschool child visits the baby room for 20 minutes in the afternoon. They help the babies with a fun experience like cooking or painting.

Once a month, toddler and preschool rooms open their dividing walls and share a play space. The day is pre-planned with learning experiences that suit both age groups.

All of the babies are sleeping except one. An educator carries this child in her arms to visit other rooms, just to say hello.