Research School Network: Problem Solving in Early Years: Laying the Foundations In our Grand Architecture series we explore how Early Years lays the foundations for mathematical problem solving.
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Problem Solving in Early Years: Laying the Foundations
In our Grand Architecture series we explore how Early Years lays the foundations for mathematical problem solving.
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by Newcastle Research School
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Sarah Stock
Newcastle Research School
Sarah is the Director of Newcastle Research School and the Primary School Improvement Lead for NEAT Academy Trust.
“Research highlights that problem-solving is not just about finding an answer, but about building cognitive habits that children will use for the rest of their lives. Problem-solving is recognised as a fundamental twenty-first-century skill, vital for creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. It equips individuals to navigate uncertainty with confidence and ingenuity.” LOIZOU, E., 2025. The role of an early childhood education teacher in enhancing children’s creativity during creative play. Paper presented at the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) Conference 2025.
Sinking the Footings
In our Grand Architecture series, we are viewing the mathematical journey as the construction of a cathedral. Before the walls of KS2 can rise or the spires of KS3 take flight, we must focus on the most critical phase: laying the foundations.
Playing with the Space
For our youngest learners, mathematical problem solving emerges when children engage in unstructured or semi-structured play. Young children are natural problem setters and problem solvers and as adults we can further support this through our role of actively prompting children to solve problems that have occurred organically in their own play.
Within Early Years pedagogy, provision and daily routines, there are frequent opportunities for children to problem solve.
Block play offers a wealth of opportunities for children to develop vital problem-solving skills. Drawing on the Early Childhood Maths Group (ECMG) trajectory, Helen Wood-Mitchell, Reception teacher at West Walker Primary School, has focused on enhancing block play within her classroom to explicitly foster these thinking habits. This was developed through:
Developing the environment
Considering the role of the adult
Curriculum progression and planning
Developing the Environment
Deliberate decisions were made by the Early Years Lead to widen the range of resources that were available to support the stages of development. As well as the core smaller and larger wooden blocks there were also items of contrasting but identical shapes. Resources were stored with clear real-photos and shadow silhouettes which supported children in rotating shapes to match the photo or silhouette and therefore daily opportunities to reason about spatial properties. One pupil commented: ‘I have to match the block to the shape. Sometimes, I turn it around so it fits.’ Lily, 4 years.
Adult as Architect
Adults were encouraged to consider how they could scaffold and support problem solving, not just let the children struggle indefinitely.
In the scenario of two children building a road for a larger vehicle, they run into a problem. The recycling truck is too wide and heavy to just roll across. The children needed to fix the bridge. At West Walker, adults were encouraged to use open ended, mathematical prompts:
‘Oh no! It fell down. Try again’ then became ‘I noticed the bridge tipped when the truck reached the middle. Look at the space. I wonder how we could support the centre?’
The Curriculum Blueprint
West Walker has ensured that the curriculum for mathematics does not narrow the focus to number. Their progressive and sequenced curriculum is clearly mapped out for children with clear development in shape, space, measure, position and direction. As well as deliberate decisions made in the development of provision e.g. block play and what resources are used across Early Years.
Helen Wood-Mitchell sums up their approach “Here at West Walker, we ensure block play progresses from Nursery to Reception and it is all about moving children from sensory exploration to purposeful engineering. By mapping their skills: guiding them from simple stacking to planned, collaborative structures you can intentionally build on their prior learning. This transition is supported by elevating the environment with mathematical fractional blocks, open-ended loose parts, and design clipboards, alongside adapting the adult role to provoke critical thinking through architectural vocabulary and collaborative problem-solving.”
