Introduction

Children like arranging toys in lines, straight or curved. This activity links with their everyday experiences of traffic jams or queues in shops or lining up in school. Adults can build on this interest by for instance making a traffic jam on a road play mat.

An activity

Make a road block of your choice e.g. roadworks on a road layout play mat. With the children make and talk about the single file traffic jams it has caused. Focus on positions and order.

Mathematical opportunities/curriculum links

Talking about the positions: in front of, behind, between, back, front, first, last

Using simple language related to ordinality: first, second, third

Comparing, ranking and pattern making.

The big ideas and their progression

comparing and describing:

• using mathematical language about length and number, such as bigger, smaller, the same and moving to more appropriate language such as longer, shorter, more people, less/fewer, equal

• using mathematical language about shape, moving from informal such as wiggly, to more specific such a straight,  curved

number:

• counting and cardinality - using number names, one to one correspondence,  knowing that the number in the queue is the last count

• conservation of number through spacing out objects in the queue and number remailing the same

• addition and subtraction by increasing or decreasing number of objects in the queue

• part-whole numbers, noticing number within numbers, division by splitting queues into two or more

ordering:

• using positional language  to describe place of objects such as in front of, behind, between

• using ordinal language progressing from first and last to other numbers

• describing the order progressing to using a rule to create patterns within a queue such as alternate colours

Teacher interventions:

You might encourage the children to talk about why they have made a queue. Have they been in a queue themselves?  When? Why? Why do queues happen? 

Tell me about your queue.

Which car/person/teddy is at the front of the queue? Which is at the back?

Which car is behind the red bus? What is in front of it?

What is between the green van and the digger?

Can you put this lorry behind the yellow bus / in front of the tractor / between the pink van  and the police car?

How many cars are there in your queue? Betsy's queue? Can you make it longer? shorter?

Which car is first in the queue? Which is second..?

Which do you think is the smallest car in the queue? Which is the biggest/tallest?

Can you put them in some other order?

Is there a pattern to your queue? Why did you put this first? Why did you put this next? Who's last? Why?

Can you make a queue with all the ** at the front and the ** at the back. 

Children's possible responses

Look out for children making their own queues in self initiated play, providing an opportunity to observe their non-verbal activity and their self-commentating as they manipulate the objects.

Children will develop understanding of modelled language before they are ready to articulate the words themselves. They may begin to use positional language as they talk about and share ideas, or describe the queues they have made.

Other approaches to stimulate queue making

Resources for activities :

• Large soft toys;
• Small world people and animals
• 'Sorting' resources; animals, minibeasts, vehicles etc
• Picture cards
• Beads or assorted hollow pasta shapes to thread
• Assorted wooden building blocks which can become any imaginary creatures/ vehicles/houses
• Items to peg on on a washing line

Encourage child-initiated queues through providing materials, inside and outside, for:

• a role play shop
• a play bus made from a line of chairs
• an 'ice cream van' - (children to make their own pretend ice creams)
• a card tunnel in a small world sand tray with cars
• a bridge over a narrow water play 'canal' with boats
• a water tray ' swimming pool' complete with diving board and small world people
• a narrow gap of cones to ride through on outdoor wheeled toys
• a play tunnel to crawl through
• using sticks, cones, leaves, flowers outside: floating ('Pooh stick' style) along a length of guttering, split bamboo or a safe stream.

Story links        

Make way for ducklings by Robert McClosky 

The Enormous Turnip

   

Interactive NRICH screen

Screen type:  'drag around objects'

A line of 10 penguins, all different and all queuing at a bus stop that can be seen at the far left of the screen. The bus stop sign reads ' South Pole Bus'

The penguins are widely spaced. Each penguin is a separate Drag Around object.  All penguins are partially turned towards the bus stop so that the direction of the queue is clear.

Having ten penguins will make this screen versatile in that penguins can be added or removed form the queue to support number bond work.

Prompt questions adapt to artwork

Which penguin is first in the queue? Which is last?

Make the penguin with the bag be first in the queue.

Make the blue penguin be last in the queue.

Find the penguin wearing  a hat. Put it next to the penguin with a football.

Find the pink  penguin. Put it  between the sleepy penguin and the penguin  carrying a fish.