The Number Workshop
Every answer here comes with a way to check it.
Six rooms, twenty-four numbered lessons. We start with beans and pebbles, chant the old tables, fold paper to find symmetry, wrap string round a jar to discover pi, and end by spotting a graph that fibs. Nothing is true here because a grown-up said so — every lesson tells you how to prove it with your own hands.
No speed, no scores
We never race and never compare. Slow and sure is the goal.
Hands first
Build it, then write it. The counters settle every argument.
Ten minutes daily
A short chant or count each morning beats a long weekly slog.
The six rooms
Tap a board to open its four numbered lessons.
Room 1
Numbers Are Things
The old way
Counters, buttons and beans on the table; counting aloud together every morning.
Carries into grown-up life
Estimating, checking a bill, trusting your own count over a confident guess.
On the table
A jar of buttons, dried beans, bottle tops, pebbles from a walk.
Lesson 1
One thing, one word
Do it: Line up ten pebbles. Touch each one as you say its number. Then count them backwards.
Big idea: Counting works because each thing gets exactly one number word — no skipping, no doubling up.
How we know: Count the same pebbles left to right, then right to left. Same answer both ways? Then your counting is sound. If not, slow down and touch each one.
Skill for life: Going slowly enough to be right, instead of fast enough to look clever.
countone-to-onecheckLesson 2
The number that hides
Do it: Count five beans, cover them with a cup, then count again without peeking. Guess. Lift the cup.
Big idea: Five stays five when you cannot see it. Numbers do not vanish.
How we know: You tested it yourself: the cup came off and five were still there. Do it with eight and ten too.
Skill for life: Holding an idea in your head when the thing is out of sight.
amounthiddensameLesson 3
Piles without counting
Do it: Throw a small handful of beans down. Guess how many. Then count. Try again ten times.
Big idea: Your eyes get good at seeing about how many — a skill called estimating.
How we know: Write your guess next to the real number each time. After ten throws, look: your guesses get closer. The list is the evidence.
Skill for life: Making a sensible guess, then checking it instead of defending it.
estimateguesscloserLesson 4
Ten fingers, then ten sticks
Do it: Bundle ten lolly sticks with an elastic band. Make three bundles and four loose sticks.
Big idea: We write 34 because there are three bundles of ten and four left over. That is all place value is.
How we know: Undo the bundles and count all thirty-four one by one. The number does not change — only how it is packed.
Skill for life: Seeing why a rule exists rather than memorising the rule alone.
tenbundleplace value
Calm first
Count ten slow breaths on your fingers before you begin. Numbers and breathing both like a steady pace.
One kind thing
Count out a fair share of something at snack time so nobody has to ask.
How do we know?
Nobody needs to be told that ten is ten. Count your pebbles forwards, then backwards. Same answer twice is your own proof.
Ask Foxy
Your maths helper
Ask anything. Foxy gives hints first, then kind explanations.
Type a question below, or tap one of the ideas.
For grown-ups: Rooms 1 and 2 are the foundation — come back to them for years without apology. There are no timed tests here and no comparing children: if a lesson is hard today, get the counters out and try again another morning. Supervise scissors, coins and small objects with young children.