Ever since my own children were Numberland pioneers in 2004, it has been my mission and my joy to contribute to equal chances for all children and to a happy childhood – by nurturing their natural love for maths. Also to unburden teachers and parents by providing what it needs to let the good things happen. With minimum input and maximum joy and results – to keep the joy in these precious early years!
My mission:
Keep the joy in the early years
It is my heartfelt mission to provide resources and guidance through the research-based imaginative world of Let’s visit Numberland to inspire a generation of children to make connections to the world of mathematics and to see the joy in it! I aim to do this through:
• Ensuring a range of quality materials is available globally to assist early year teachers and parents.
• Linking with current research into child psychology and mathematics.
• Networking widely with professionals to continue to ensure Numberland is ‘best practice’ for all!
I utterly enjoy meeting people all over the world who dedicate themselves to supporting our children on their journey of life. It is a mutual learning and reassuring how much children love, need and are the same everywhere!
I feel humbled and blessed to join forces with likeminded professionals around the globe. Meet some on them further down in this section.
Dr. Gerhard Friedrich, author and my scientific advisor early childhood and maths.
Mark Hansen, my co-author of My Garden is a Square, Numberland ambassador Australia.
Dr Fabrice Jaumont,
my scientific advisor multilingualism and director of publishing house CALEC.
Kathy Brodie,
Early Years Professional, hosts my Numberland Masterclass on her network.
Barbara Schindelhauer
Founder ifvl, Numberland co-author, trainer, and early years enthusiast
A German national working internationally, my interests are in early maths and I see myself as an ambassador for joy in the early years and equal chances of all children, inspired by my own young children and their friends in 2004.
I am a published author, teacher trainer, presenter and founded the ifvl (German acronym for institute for preschool learning) which I developed as a small enterprise to develop hands-on teacher training and versatile resources. Dr Gerhard Friedrich is my scientific advisor and co-author of the best-selling German Numberland handbook Komm mit ins Zahlenland, with 75+k copies sold and still in print. For the international audience, I co-authored My Garden is a Square, a children’s rhyming picture book, published in 8 languages.
I have been accompanying many projects and trained hundreds of teachers, in Germany and internationally, in very different settings. I am constantly developing and designing hands-on resources to ensure Numberland can take place anywhere in the world through creative role play. For that, I network with schools, experts, and Non Governmental Organisations worldwide to fully embrace the potential of child driven early mathematics for the entire development of children, including literacy.
I graduated from Business Administration and Psychology at the University of Mannheim, Germany, and have completed a Master of Science at Stirling University, Scotland.
I am filled with gratitude for the positive feedback from the field, the international impetus, above all the difference Numberland makes to children! Also check out my German website www.ifvl.de
Books
Barbara Schindelhauer (2024)
My Cut and Play Numberland – an engaging hands-on adventure with the numbers zero to ten.
TBR Books by CALEC, New York, USA. ISBN 9781636074344
Barbara Schindelhauer, Mark Hansen (2022).
My Garden is a Square – a visit to the home of numbers and shapes.
TBR Books by CALEC, New York, USA. ISBN 9781636073569.
Available in 8 languages, also as ebook.
Gerhard Friedrich, Viola de Galgóczy, Barbara Schindelhauer (2011).
Komm mit ins Zahlenland – eine spielerische Entdeckungsreise in die Welt der Mathematik.
Herder Publishing, Freiburg, Germany. ISBN 978-3-451-32420-8. Revised version of the first edition 2004 and still in print, over 75k copies sold.
Credentials
- Presenter: Internationale Deutschlehrertagung (= International conference of teachers of the German language), Lübeck (2025)
- Presenter: World Literacy Summit, Oxford (2025)
- Presenter: Maths Webinar Series by Fundapromat (Episode 22, 2023)
- Workshops: Maths Week Ireland, University of Dublin and Stranmillis University College Belfast (2022)
- Presenter: Education Influence Spotlight, Episode 6 (2022)
- Member of the international teacher network Education Influence
- Presenter: World Literacy Summit 2020
- Trainer: Erasmus+ Bilingual Education a Step Ahead (2020, 2016)
- Interview: Early Years Summit by Kathy Brodie (2019)
- Presenter: 2. Andiner Deutschlehrerkongress / Congress of Teachers of German as a Foreign Language, Chile (2015)
- Presenter: BCME8 – British Congress of Mathematics Education (2014)
- Presenter: Prepare for Life! – Raising Awareness for Early Literacy Education by Stiftung Lesen / Reading Worldwide (2013)
- Keynote Speaker: Delta Kappa Gamma Society, Bi-annual European Regional Conference (2011)
Published articles in English
- Gerhard Friedrich, Barbara Schindelhauer (2015).
Let’s visit Numberland: A highly emotive and efficient reason for reasoning.
in: Primary Mathematics by the Mathematical AssociationVolume 19, issue 1, pp. 13-16.
www.m-a.org.uk Download article - Gerhard Friedrich, Barbara Schindelhauer (2014).
Let’s visit Numberland: An Emotive, Story-based Contribution to Numeracy and Literacy Development.
In: Jörg F. Maas, Simone C. Emig, Carolin Seelmann (eds.). Prepare for Life! Raising Awareness for Early Literacy Education. Results and Implications of the International Conference of Experts 2013. Stiftung Lesen 2014 (pp. 79-85)
Download this article - NCETM National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (2011).
Focus on…Numberland.
Early Years Magazine, Issue 25/2011
www.ncetm.org.uk
Dr. Gerhard Friedrich
Author of the original Numberland concept and my Scientific Advisor since 2004
From 2003 to 2006, Gerhard led a research project on early maths education, initiated by the Ministry of Culture of Baden-Wurttemberg/ Germany. The objective was to develop a concept based on brain research, and early childhood development. The most encouraging test results were published (peer-reviewed) and led to the first version of Let’s visit Numberland.
Gerhard holds a PhD in Pedagogics and teaches General Didactics at the University of Bielefeld, Germany. His scientific research focuses on developing didactic concepts for early childhood education. Before, I used to be a teacher for maths, technics, pedagogics, and psychology.
His son Lutz, then 4, was among the first children to shape Numberland. Today, his granddaughter Toni helps to develop new ideas.
Mark Hansen
Mark is my wonderful co-author of My Garden is a Square, which took us only 5 months as of meeting the first time!!
He is an educator driven by his passion to promote better teaching of mathematics – and father of four in Queensland, Australia.
Mark is also author of Math for All, a rhyming children’s picture book dispelling long-held myths about math … (TBR Books 2021)
Learn more about our journey
Mark’s website: mathsclassrenos
Dr Fabrice Jaumont
Dr Fabrice Jaumont is my scientific advisor on multilingualism. Fabrice is Director at CALEC, the Center for the Advancement of Languages, Education, and Communities, a nonprofit organisation that promotes cross-cultural understanding and the empowerment of linguistic communities. Fabrice Jaumont’s mission is to foster a more diverse, inclusive, and multilingual world.
As such, CALEC publishes my picture book My Garden is a Square (2022) in various languages and of My Cut and Play Numberland (2024).
www.calec.org
www.tbr-books.org
Interesting link for bookstores
Kathy Brodie
Kathy is an Early Years Professional, author, consultant, trainer and the creator of a range of free and affordable online training opportunities for Early Years practitioners, educators and teachers around the world.
Kathy kindly hosts my Numberland Masterclass.
Further Numberland Enthusiasts and Contributors
Brazil — Bettina Prall (professora da educacao infantil), Sao Paulo, Brazil
Estonia — Reeli Tänavsuu (kindergarten teacher and head), Pärnu, Estonia
Israel — Zilla Lemberger Freedman (owner of cMc – The Children’s Math Centre www.cMcmath.com), Israel
Malaysia — Larissa Charles (early childhood educator and consultant, author), Sengalor, Malaysia
Romania — Friedl Kast (Hoffnung für eine neue Generation e.V., Germany www.hoffnung.org), working in Romania
Turkey — Dença Nerse (psychologist, kindergarten teacher), Istanbul, Turkey
UK — Cherri Moseley (math consultant, book author), Norwich, UK
USA — Uta Rockel (preschool and Pre-K teacher), Washington, USA. utarockel1@gmail.com
Zambia — Lea Eichberger (primary teacher, former Commundo Co-Worker)
Timeline
A glimpse of international Numberland travellers – and a wonderful proof that children enjoy the same things everywhere and that maths is a global language!
Numberland is also popular among international schools because of their children’s bilingual background.
It’s in fact hard to keep up …
At home, Germany 2004
