Pre-school children are curious about the world, how it works and why, and they love to investigate and explore.
All this ties in with their growing understanding of the world, and the knowledge they're a separate person, with feelings and experiences different from other people's. They know that if something happens to them when you're not there, you won't know about it and they'll have to explain it to you.
Explanations are part of early science and maths - and investigations are ways children of this age test out ideas and come to conclusions. Early-years teachers create stimulating and challenging environments that use this questing and questioning stage to make learning rewarding and fun.
Welcome your child's questions even if they're difficult to answer - "Where is the air", "Why does grass grow green?" or "Why does grandma have lines on her face?"
Come up with questions of your own. Help your child to flex their thinking muscles by seeing if they can guess how life would be different if they were very tall or lived in a tent, or in a very cold (or hot) place.
See if they can solve simple problems - "If I have a pet lion and you have two pet lions, how many lions do we have together?"
Make things light-hearted. If they find the answers easy, make the questions more difficult.
Early science and maths games need minimal equipment.
Take a jam jar with you on a walk to the park, and find a snail to bring home and look at. Afterwards, release it somewhere safe such as a garden.
At bath time, place different containers in the bath and see how many cups of water can fit in a jug or bowl. Ask your child to guess how many it will take. Also experiment with which objects float and which don't.
Growing cress from seeds is easy - they'll grow on any surface that's kept moist. Put cotton wool inside an egg shell and grow green 'hair'. You can even draw facial features on the shell.
Practise counting by predicting how many steps it will take to walk down the garden or to the shops or bus stop.
Ask your child to set the table for tea. That means putting out the same number of plates, knives and cups. Let them count and get the right number.