The role of informal mathematics in the development of mathematical thinking: A systematic review in early childhood

ABSTRACT

Informal mathematics refers to the mathematical knowledge children construct through everyday experiences before formal schooling. Although recognized as foundation for later mathematical learning, no systematic review has examined how this research is distributed across content domains, age groups, and methods. This study presents a preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis-based systematic review of 48 papers on informal mathematics in early childhood (0-6 years), published between 1982 and 2023 in Web of Science and Scopus. Results show that 83.7% of the papers were published since 2013, mostly using quantitative methods. Most studies focused on numerical thinking in children aged 3 to 6, while algebraic, metric, and stochastic thinking remain underexplored, despite evidence that informal mathematical competence is multidimensional. Only 10.6% focused exclusively on children aged 0 to 3. These gaps constrain the design of comprehensive curricula and interventions, highlighting the need for broader research across domains, younger children, play-based activities, and school-family collaboration.