Snag your copy below and then grab our best selling Number Formation Pack!

Getting Ready

These pumpkin counting mats are super easy to prepare!

I chose to print the download (found below) on orange cardstock and ran the mat through my laminator.

(There is also a color version that could be printed on white cardstock.)

I grabbed some of my pumpkin mini erasers, a dry erase marker and eraser, and a pencil and paper clip for spinning the spinner.

If you don’t have the pumpkin erasers from Target, you could use a different manipulative of choice or use the pumpkin printable cards included in the free download.

We were ready for some pumpkin counting!

Pumpkin Counting Mat

For this activity, my students first spun the 1-20 spinner. The first number was 11.

We counted out eleven pumpkins on the ten frames, making sure to start in the upper left-hand corner of the top box and move to the right, just like we read a book.

The activity lends itself nicely to some great one-to-one correspondence practice.

The last thing my students did was write the number to match their set of pumpkins.  Since there were 11 pumpkins counted on the ten frames, the children wrote the number 11 on the line with a dry erase marker.

Students repeated the process of spinning, counting and writing until their time was finished.

This festive counting mat activity was prefect to use as small math group work, independent practice or as a partner activity.

Grab Your Download

Ready for some pumpkin counting fun?!  Just click the button below to grab your free download!

With so many diverse needs in one classroom, it’s hard to know where to start. That’s why The Science of Reading Formula is here to help. We’ve got a treasure trove of resources designed to help you meet every student where they are—whether they’re just learning letter sounds or tackling more advanced skills. Differentiation doesn’t have to feel overwhelming anymore!

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For more number fun, check out our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

I’m absolutely in love with the fall season. It really is my favorite time of year. I love all of the colors, and every year we make a trip to an apple orchard to pick apples. It’s my favorite field trip, so I like to incorporate apples into a lot of our learning activities.

My 4-year-old is starting to show signs of wanting to count. She doesn’t understand what it is, but at least she is finally wanting to say the words. These apple tree counting mats were a great way to help her start matching the words that she hears with objects she can touch.

Getting Ready

To prep the activity, I printed the apple tree counting mats, laminated and cut them out. Then, I gathered up some red pom poms to use as apples and was ready to go!

When children are first starting to learn numbers, they do not understand the significance of a written numeral or really even the word. Giving them something to touch and compare really helps to solidify their understanding of numbers.

Apple Tree Counting Mats

With my daughter, I said the number that was shown on the mat and then counted with/for her to reach that number as she placed each pom pom on the counting mat.

I finished each mat by saying, “This is three apples” or “There are 4 apples on the tree.” We repeated it over and over again.

I really enjoyed doing this with her because she has recently learned the word “apple” and it’s very exciting to listen to her ‘”talking'” after waiting for so long.

When you’re using the mats with your own kids, you can point to the numeral as you talk to show them that it is the symbol for the word you are saying.

We also used the mats to build language skills. I told her, “The tree is green” or “The basket is under the tree” or “The apples are on the tree.” It was a great way to work on multiple skills at once.

Grab Your Mats

Download your free apple tree counting mats by clicking the blue button below and then hop over and grab our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

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Your young mathematicians will be having so much fun they won’t even know they are practicing counting, subitizing and adding at the same time.

Scroll below to grab your freebie and then hop over and grab our Number Formation Pack for more math fun!

Getting Ready

To prepare the game, I printed the game board on white cardstock to give it extra durability. (You can print it in either color or, if you want to save ink, black and white.)

Then, I grabbed two dice and a bucket of gems kids could use for counting.

That’s it! We were math game ready!

Acorn Roll & Cover Math Game

To begin, I demonstrated how a turn would go by rolling the two dice at the same time and then adding (or counting) the number rolled.

Starting in a circle, the first student went.

She rolled a 4 and a 1 and quickly determined that the sum was 5 by saying out loud “Four plus one equals five.”

She searched the game board until she found the acorn with the number five on it and covered it with a gem.

Then, it was time for the next child’s turn. He rolled a 4 and a 3.

With a little bit of help, he decided the sum was 7 and said, ” Four and three makes seven.”

He proudly found the number 7 acorn and covered it with a gem. The game was on!

We continued playing until all the acorns on the board had been covered.

This  acorn math game was so simple and motivating!

Grab Your Download

Ready for some acorn roll and cover?!  Just click the button below to grab your FREE download and then hop over and snag our Number Formation Pack for even more math fun!

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It’s a fun way to develop number sense and, since it can be played in different ways, is great for differentiation!  After some fall math fun, grab our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prepare this fun ten frame matching game, I printed out the cards {(below) and laminated them for durability and extended use.

I cut out the cards and separated them into two piles – the trees and the leaves.

Ten Frame Matching Game

My students and I played the game a few different ways, depending on the level and needs of each child.

To start out, we picked a tree and then counted the dots in the ten frame on the leaves until we found a match. We then placed those cards near or on each other to show that they were paired up, continuing until all of the cards had been matched.

As the kids got a bit faster at recognizing numbers in ten frames, we switched to pulling a leaf, quickly saying its number and finding its match. This was great practice for subitizing (recognizing the quantity instantly without having to count), too!

Ten Frame Game Extension Activities

You can work on other skills with these cards as well, such as number order 1-10 by placing the trees or leaves in order.

Want more of a challenge? Pick two trees or ten frames and add them together.

Or, you can even grab a leaf and work with your child to solve the missing addend to make ten! For instance, if she turned over three, she would figure out that she needed seven more to make ten.

Download Your Game

Are you ready to play? Grab your free matching game by clicking the blue button below and then hop over and grab our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

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Use it for small group work, partner work, or at a math station. Then, hop on over and check out our Number Formation Pack!

Getting Ready

The counting mat was so easy to prepare!

I chose to print the download (found below) on colored cardstock and laminated the mat to give it added durability.

(There is also a color version that can be printed on white cardstock if you’re comfortable using some of your colored ink.)

Then, I grabbed some of the dinosaur pasta I found at Walmart along with a pencil and paper clip for making the spinner.

That’s it! We were ready for some dinosaur-counting fun!

Dinosaur Counting Mat

To play, students took turns spinning the 1-20 spinner.

The first student spun a seven.

Together, we counted out seven pasta dinosaurs on the ten frame. The activity was great for practicing one-to-one counting practice.

The next student spun a 16 and then placed 16 dinosaurs on the ten frames.

I love how easily my students could see the group of ten and the extra ones they needed to place on the counting mat to make the teens.

Students repeated the process of spinning and counting until their time was finished.

If you have dinosaur mini erasers from Target, they would also work perfectly with this dinosaur counting mat!

Grab Your Download

Ready for some counting fun?! Just click the button below to grab your free download!

Then, make sure to hop over and snag our Number Formation Pack for more math fun!

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Grab your copies below!  Then for more number fun, grab our Number Formation Pack in our shop, too!

Getting Ready

There is very little preparation needed for these color by number 100 charts.

I printed out a copy of each chart (below), and my son grabbed some crayons to use as he colored. (Markers or colored pencils would also work well.)

In no time at all, we were ready to start coloring in the hidden images!

Color by Number

This simple, low key activity is perfect for stress free math review. Kids simply follow the list at the top of each chart.

My son started working through each step one by one.

He colored a long list of numbers blue and then shaded boxes 13 and 18 red, more numbers yellow…

As he colored, the mystery school-themed picture began to appear on the previously blank chart.

My son loved seeing the mystery image emerge. There was lots of giggling at some of his very early guesses as well!

The mystery color by number puzzles were such a motivating way to work on the numbers 1 to 100!

Grab Your Copy

Click the blue download button below to grab your copy of the color by number puzzles and then hop over and snag our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

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When you’re done, work on number formation with our Number Formation Activity Pack!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Getting Ready

To prep the activity, I printed the cards (below) on cardstock to give them extra durability and cut along the lines to separate the pieces.

Then, I slid the cards through the laminator so they could easily be wiped clean for reuse later.

I grabbed our Vis-a-vis markers, printed the record sheet on regular copy paper and invited Big Brother (age 6.5) to join me.

Apple Addition Cards

Since Big Brother had used our pack of addition write and wipe cards before, he knew just what to do. He picked up a card from the pile and used the picture clues to write in the missing addends:

4 + 4 = 8

Solving one card after another, he worked his way through the stack.

During this first round, Big Brother was getting practice identifying the missing numbers without worrying about using the math symbols correctly.

He was ready for a challenge though, so I gave him the record sheet and asked him to write each problem completely on his own – addends, sums and symbols.

It was such a simple way to take his learning one step further.

Grab Your Set

Click the blue button below to snag your copy of the apple addition cards (you can grab the complete addition card pack here!) and then check out our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

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Grab your free printable pumpkin puzzles below. Ready for more math fun!? Head over to our shop and grab our Number Formation Pack!

I’m so excited that fall is on its way! It’s my favorite time of year and I love sharing it with my kids.

I created this set of four free pumpkin number  puzzles to work on number order for the numbers 1-40. Each puzzle has a different set of numbers to give kids practice both reading the numbers and putting them in order.

The puzzles are great for kids who are just starting to learn to count to 100 because the pictures will help correct them if they get a number out of order.

There is one puzzle for each of the following sets of numbers: 1-10, 11-20, 21-30 and 31-40. By using the same format, kids can concentrate on putting the numbers in order rather than ‘how’ to put the puzzle together. In addition, the puzzles are self-checking because if a number is out of order, it will make the picture incorrect.

You can also have your child put the number puzzle together and then while they cover their eyes, remove one or two pieces and have her figure out what numbers are missing.

Getting Ready

To prepare the puzzles, print them on paper and laminate or print on cardstock. Laminating will make them more durable, but if you only plan on using them a couple times, card stock will work.

Cut out the puzzles and then cut on the solid lines in-between each set of numbers to create the strips of the puzzle.

Pumpkin Number Puzzles

To start, give your child one puzzle at a time. Once he is confident with putting a couple puzzles together, you can mix them together for an extra challenge, requiring him to sort them and then put the puzzles together.

I hope that you will enjoy these pumpkin puzzles as much as we have! They will be great for having some fun on a chilly fall day!

Grab Your Copy Now

Download the Free Pumpkin Puzzles and then hop over and check out our Number Formation Pack for more number fun!

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Scroll down and grab your graphing freebie! Looking for more math fun? Check out our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prepare for this summer math game, I first printed the game board on white cardstock for durability and laminated it for use again and again.

Then I grabbed a pencil and paper clip to use as a spinner on the game board.

I also grabbed a bucket of pom-poms to use as my marking pieces on the graph and some plastic tweezers that are always great for working on fine motor skills.

That’s it!  We were ready for some Summer Spin and Graph fun!

Summer Spin and Graph

To play, I showed my students how to put the point of their pencil in the center of the spinner and then flick the paper clip with their finger to make it spin.

The first student spun the spinner and landed on the beach ball.

Using the tweezers, she picked a pom-pom and placed it on the graph above the beach ball.

Students continued spinning and graphing until one of the summer pictures reached the top of the graph first.

Then, my students happily cleared the pom-poms off of their board started the summer math game again!

Summer Math Game Extension Ideas

There are so many opportunities for students to talk about math while doing this activity!

We worked on:

• Counting the number of pom-poms above each summer picture
• Comparing the number of each summer picture using the words greater than, less than, and equal (for example, “I have a great number of pom-poms for the shell than the sandcastle.”)
• Counting to tell how many more were needed to reach the top of the graph
• Determining if each number was odd or even

Grab Your Download

Ready for some Summer Spin and Graph fun?!  Just click the blue button below to grab your FREE download!  Then, for more math fun, snag our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

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Plus, as a big bonus, kids can color it to make a patriotic American flag!  When they’re done, grab our Number Formation Pack for more counting fun!

Summer is approaching quickly, and with it comes fun patriotic holidays like Memorial Day, Flag Day and the 4th of July. I was interested in sneaking a bit of learning in with our stars and stripes to help my first grader practice his skills. The American flag lends itself well to math, numbers and counting, so I created this easy 4th of July math game.

Getting Ready

The counting game is fairly low key, which made preparing for it quick and easy.

I made sure to print out some game boards and borrowed a die from one of our board games.

My first grader typically prefers to use colored pencils, so I grabbed a red and blue colored pencil but crayons or markers would work just as well.

I grabbed a package of star stickers at the grocery store and we were ready to play!

Stars and Stripes Counting Game

On his first roll of the die, my son landed on five so he added that many star stickers to his game board.

We took turns rolling the die and adding stickers to each of our boards.

Initially, we played with simple one-to-one correspondence, counting out each star as well filled our boards.

As my first grader became more familiar with the concept of the game, however, I noticed him adding in his head to determine where he would place the last sticker each round.

My son can lack confidence when working with big numbers so it was helpful to start at one and work our way up to higher two-digit numbers.

The first player to fill all 50 stars on his flag was the winner.

After the game ended, my son colored the field behind the stars blue.

Then, he used a red colored pencil, he colored the odd stripes to the right red.

Viola! His math board game had been transformed into a patriotic American flag!

Ultimately, my first grader was able to review key math concepts (counting, addition, and even/odd numbers), while playing a fun game and creating a patriotic work of art.

Grab Your Download

Click the blue button below to grab your free download and then hop over and snag our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

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It’s the perfect math activity to use with young learners this summer!  Then, for more number fun, check out our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prepare the activity, I first printed the ice cream number cards on white cardstock. Then, I printed the ten frame cards on pink cardstock so that my students could easily match a white ice cream number card with a pink ten frame card.

I ran the cards through my laminator for durability.  Then, I used my paper cutter to cut out the cards.

I printed one ice cream number coloring sheet for each student and we were ready to play!

Ice Cream Number and Ten Frame Match

To play, my students had to match an ice cream number card to the matching ten frame card for the numbers 0-20.

First, I had my students turn over all of the ice cream cards and all of the ten frame cards to play like a memory game.  They took turns turning over a white ice cream number card and a pink ten frame card to see if the number and ten frame matched.

If one friend had a match, they got to keep those two cards in their keep pile.

If the cards did not match, they turned both cards back over.  Students continued playing the game until all cards had been matched.

The game can easily be differentiated depending on what numbers you want to focus on with your students.  For example, you could choose to just use the cards for numbers 0-5 or for 0-10.

It’s a great activity to use with a small group of students or at a math station!

Number Coloring Sheet

Next, I gave each student a coloring sheet and every pair of students a set of ten frame cards.

Kids shuffled the ten frame cards and placed them face down in a pile.  Students turned over one ten frame card at a time and then colored the ice cream cone that had the matching number.

They continued until they had colored all of the ice cream cones on the recording sheet.

Grab Your Download

Ready to grab your free ice cream number and ten frame match game?!

Just click the blue button below to download your free copy of this activity, then hop over and snag our Number Formation Pack that your mathematicians will love!

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They’re a perfect addition to any Halloween or fall unit, as well as our Number Formation Pack!

Getting Ready

I printed the pumpkin cards (below) on cardstock to give them extra durability and cut them apart. (You could also laminate the pieces if you’ll be using them in the classroom.)

I grabbed a handful of medium-sized clothespins (they’re slightly smaller than the regular size so it’s easier to fit them on the cards) and invited my boys over to join me. The prep was as quick and easy as it comes.

Pumpkin Count and Clip Cards

I challenged Middle Brother (age 4) to find the smallest number in the pile first. He eagerly searched through the stack and pulled out the one. He read the number out loud and clipped one clothespin to the black dot on the card.

Then, he hunted for number two and did it all again, continuing until all of the cards had been clipped.

The simple, straight-forward activity was a great way to strengthen his number recognition.

Ready to Play?

Grab your free count and clip pumpkin cards by clicking the blue button below and then hop over and check out our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack to continue the learning fun!

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Just grab an orange crayon or marker, print the pages and you’re ready for some fun fall math.  For more math fun, check out our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

Prepping for the pumpkin ten frames activity was as easy as it comes. I grabbed an orange marker and printed the free sheets at the bottom of the page. That’s it!

Pumpkin Ten Frames

Middle Brother (age 4) was as excited about fall as I was so he was eager to get right to work.

I gave him the first sheet and asked him to read the numbers out loud to me – helping him on the one or two digits that he hasn’t memorized yet. Then, I showed him how to read the number again and draw that many pumpkins in the ten frame to the right of it.

Ten frames are amazing for visual learners because they easily show numbers broken down into groups of five – one on top and one below. As I filled the squares, I colored pumpkins on the top row of the frame first and then moved to the second row. That way, Middle Brother could easily see that the number six, for example,  was equal to five pumpkins on top and one down below.

Pumpkin after pumpkin, Middle Brother happily read each number and colored his ten frame to match.  By the end, it looked like there were tiny pumpkins everywhere on the page.  It was the perfect mix between learning and some fall fun!

Grab Your Pumpkin Ten Frames

Ready to join in the fun?! Download your pumpkin ten frame sheets by clicking the blue button below and then check out more math fun with our Number Formation Pack!

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They’re a great way to enjoy the sunshine and get in some fun math practice before school starts again.  For more number fun during the summer, check out our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

Skip Counting Hopscotch

My daughter loves hopscotch and flies through them numbered 1-10. So one day I gave her a little challenge. As soon as she saw it she said, “Ohh, counting by twos!” She was intrigued by this skip counting activity.  Her first attempt was cautious as she studied the numbers. She did it quietly and wanted to try again.

I let her know that when she was ready, she could try to say them out loud as she hopped. Oh, that was a challenge! A great way for the mind and body to practice working together.

After she finished, she turned around and said she was going to do it backwards! Kids have such great ideas and I love seeing them make something their own.

We continued on by changing our hopscotch board to practice counting by twos to twenty.

A few days later, we did another skip counting activity.  We tried hopscotch counting by 10s and 5s. Some of our neighborhood kids tried it out too as they walked by. They were surprised to see a hopscotch that was different than counting up by ones and the kids had a fun time being in the sunshine hopping together.

Skip Counting Rings

Here is another game we made up with just a pebble and sidewalk chalk.

Each ring had a value of 5. We drew a line a few feet away and tossed the pebble, trying to hit the bullseye. (You can easily do this by tens if that’s what you’re working on.)

Then, we counted together from five up to the value the rock landed in. “Five, Ten, Fifteen, Twenty!” We took turns tossing and counting together.

A quick and easy way to practice counting by fives (or twos, tens, etc.) and without it being too competitive.

When you’re done having fun outdoors, cool down indoors with our awesome Number Formation Pack!

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These 15 counting cards are our favorite freebies from across the web. They’re creative, engaging and hands-on. A perfect combo for some serious counting fun.  For more math fun, check out our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

Kids will love adding eyeballs to a batch of colorful monster counting cards.

For those sweet tooths in the mix, hand over a set of chocolate chip cookie cards...

And add marshmallows to hot chocolate mugs. (The Measured Mom)

One fish, two fish, three fish, four. Grab some goldfish crackers and start counting with these cute ocean-themed counting cards.

Thinking about summer?! Count watermelon seeds!

Drive Matchbox cars into parking spots. Vroom!

Put the finishing touches on Lorax trees with a handful of pom poms.  Perfect counting cards for the avid Dr. Seuss reader!

Build towers with LEGO DUPLOS. (All Our Days)

Count colorful gumballs. (The Measured Mom)

Pin clothespin tails on birds. So adorable! (Frog Spot)

Like two in one activities?! Match up glass gems and then piece together a fun animal puzzle. (Pre-K Pages)

Use stones to count out fish bubbles. (The Measured Mom)

Work on some pom pom numbers. (1 Plus 1 Plus 1 Equals 1)

Add gold to empty pots of gold!!

And decorate cupcakes with buttons!! (Glued to My Crafts Blog)

That’s 15 creative, motivating counting card sets in all.

Find More

For more math inspiration and fun, check out our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

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Kids will love the entertaining, summer-themed counting cards and you’ll love the easy prep. They’re a win-win for everyone!  And when you’re done counting seeds, hop on over to our shop and check out our Number Formation Pack for some more math fun!

Understanding Numbers

Knowing number sequence and counting is important and children will explore both skills regularly as they enter school. It is also important that kids understand what each number actually means. For example, they must know that the written numbers correspond with a quantity or amount. Being able to count out objects one at a time and connect them to their written number is a valuable skill that needs practice.

Count the Seeds

The watermelon counting cards take numbered “watermelons” and individual “seeds” with the goal of placing the correct number of seeds on each watermelon.

Numbers 1-10 are included along with 100 seeds. Simply print and cut out the watermelons and seeds (I laminated for sturdiness), and you are ready to play. You can cut around the seeds completely and use the ones provided, or you can use a hole punch for more fine motor practice (like we did here).

Little hands can squeeze the hole punch and count the number of circles out onto the watermelon. Counting and fine motor all in one!

Choose which numbers you want your child to focus on, and have them say the number, collect that number of seeds and put them on the watermelon.

Adding Challenge

If your child can comfortably count out the seeds for numbers 1-10, you could give them an extra challenge by making it an addition game. “If you have a watermelon with 3 seeds and a watermelon with 2 seeds, how many seeds do you have in all?”

There are many possibilities to make this a fun learning game for your child this summer!

Grab Your Counting Cards

Ready to play?! You can download your FREE printable counting cards below. Be sure to grab our Number Formation Pack for more math inspiration!

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For more motivating counting and number practice, try out our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Getting Ready

To prep, I printed the write and wipe cards (below) on cardstock to give them extra durability. I cut along the lines to separate them and then laminated the cards to make them reusable.

I grabbed a couple dry erase markers and invited Middle Brother (age 4.5) to join me. Easy peasy!

Write and Wipe Addition Cards

Middle Brother likes an element of surprise, so he mixed up the cards and then picked one randomly from the pile.

“Six,” he read from the bottom of the ice cream cup. “But there are only three candies,” he said with confusion.

I explained that he was going to practice adding on. Since he already had three candies, he could put that number in his head and count on.

“Four… five… six,” he counted out loud as he drew the extra candies he needed to make the number match.

To help reinforce the addition problem he created, I followed up by reminding him that the three candies he had at first plus the three candies he drew, equaled six candies all together.

Already feeling like an addition champ, Middle Brother eagerly grabbed a new card and started solving it.

When he completed the entire stack of cards, we grabbed a baby wipe and cleaned them off so that Big Brother (age 6.5) could solve them later.

Grab Your Download

Click the blue button below to grab your free write and wipe addition cards and then check out even more math inspiration with our Number Formation Pack!

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Snag your set below and then hop over and grab our best selling Number Formation Sheets in our shop!

Getting Ready

I printed a copy of The Lorax Number Match Up (here) on cardstock to give it some extra durability and make the colors really pop. Then, I cut apart the cards, grabbed a bag of pom poms and invited my boys over to join me.

The Lorax Number Match Up

Middle Brother wanted to make a real game of it, so he mixed up the cards and had Big Brother randomly choose one from the pile.

First up was lucky #8. Big Brother began picking up pom poms and placing one on top of each truffala tree trunk. “One, two, three…”

In just moments, the truffala trees began taking shape.

The boys continued randomly grabbing number cards and counting out the tree tops. This number match up was the perfect way to wrap up The Lorax!

More Number Formation FUN

Enjoying the Lorax number match-up?  Hop over and grab our best selling Number Formation Sheets in our shop!

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Snag your set below and then hop over and grab our best selling Number Formation Sheets in our shop!

Getting Ready

To get the clip cards ready, I printed them on cardstock and laminated them to keep them sturdy enough to hold up against the clothespins and kids.

I cut along the black lines to separate the cards and placed them in a basket with clothespins for a small group activity and math center.

Count and Clip Cards – Two Ways to Play

There are two ways to play: counting sets to 12 and clipping the matching numeral, or counting sets to 12 and clipping the matching number word.

Cookie Count and Clip Cards

I decided to have both options of cards available since I have some students who are working on number recognition and others who are working on reading number words.

In my first group, we played the number version, but the idea is the same for either one.

We took turns picking up a card and counting the cookies. First, we had “1, 2, 3, 4” cookies. This child was still counting with one-to-one correspondence and pointing to each cookie, but you may find others are ready to subitize (recognizing the quantity instantly without counting).

Once we knew four cookies were on the card, we grabbed a clothespin, squeezed it open, (great for strengthening little fingers) and placed it on the number 4.

We kept counting and clipping until all of the cards were complete!

Grab Your Download

Ready to count some cookies of your own?  Snag your set below and then hop over and grab our best selling Number Formation Sheets in our shop!

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Grab your copy of the creepy-crawly bug cards below and then check out our three fun ways to use them.

Then hop over and grab our best selling Number Formation Sheets in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep, I printed the bug cards (HERE) on cardstock to give them extra durability and make the colors pop.

Then, I cut them apart and invited Middle Brother over to join me. So quick and easy.

Bug Number Cards – 3 Ways to Play

I wanted Middle Brother to first arrange the cards from 1 to 9 bugs to practice comparing and counting. He made quick work of the challenge and soon had all of the cards in their just-right spot.

The next challenge was an obvious follow up: laying the matching number card underneath. As he found each pair, he strengthened his number recognition and number concept. He could easily see that the symbol 1 can look like one dot or one bee.

Then came the real fun: playing a competitive round of Memory. We flipped over all of the cards and laid them face down on our table. We each took turns turning over two cards at a time. If they matched, we kept them.

If they didn’t match, we flipped them back over in the same spot.

It was a close game, but Middle Brother inched ahead and won the game with 5 pairs to my 4 number cards.

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Getting Ready

To prep for the game, I printed the free zoo animal game (found at the end of this post) on cardstock to give it extra durability and laminated the game board so it could hold up to plenty of reuse.

I cut out the die, folded it into a cube and glued together the tabs so it would stay in place.

Then, I grabbed a handful of math counters. We had glass stones on hand but you could use foam animal stickers, beans, buttons… so many things!

Playing the Counting Game

The concept was simple! Kids rolled the animal die and named the zoo animal. Then, they added a marker to the corresponding animal column on the printable.

We played two ways –

First, children played individually, competing among themselves to see which animal climbed to the top first.

Once they had the hang of it, we tried a second version of the game. Each child had their own graph and die. They rolled their dice at the same time and added the corresponding counter to their graph. The first player to reach the top was the winner!

The die has a “free” space. When kids rolled a “free”, they chose where to add their counter.

There was serious counting game strategy involved – some children liked giving one animal a strong lead and others, including my daughter, gave the extra token to the animal with the fewest gems.

I love games like this one because they are a great way to introduce children to the most basic concepts of graphing and measurement.

While the spaces on the “graph” are not numbered, organizing data (the dice rolls) into a chart like this one teaches children concepts in sorting and classifying, as well as greater and lesser quantities.

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Getting Ready

To prep, I printed the weather count and clip cards (below) on cardstock and laminated them for extra durability so that I could reuse the center year after year.

Once I finished laminating, I cut out the cards. I find using a paper trimmer is the quickest and easiest way to do it.

I always store my count and clip cards in a pencil box or some sort of plastic container. This keeps all of the pieces together and lends itself perfectly to storage when the center is not being used.

Weather Count and Clip Cards

The weather count and clip cards (below) contain 12 different counting cards. Each card has two different pictures representing numbers 6-13.

Students start by picking a counting card from the pile.

Then, they counted how many objects were on the card.

This student counted seven objects, so they placed their clothespin on the number seven.

After completing the first card, students set it aside and continued grabbing a new counting card until they were all completed.

If you do not want to use clothespins, no problem! Simply find some manipulatives from your classroom (or those adorable mini erasers from Target) and you will be set.

Differentiating

If your students are needing a bit of a challenge, you can easily extend the activity by having them write the addition problem on a dry erase board or piece of paper. This will encourage them to not only practice one to one correspondence, but then to apply that knowledge by writing an addition sentence.

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Getting Ready

To prep the counting clip cards activity, I printed the sheets (below) on cardstock to give them durability.

Tip: If you are using the set in a classroom, make sure to laminate them so they last even longer.

I cut along the lines to separate the cards and grabbed our stash of clothespins from our supplies.

I wanted to make the cards self-checking, so I clipped the correct answers and flipped them face down on the table. I marked each clipping spot with a small dot so students could easily check their answers later.

Bug Counting Clip Cards

We were ready to start counting!

Since Little Sister (age 4) knows her smaller numbers but is working on the teens, I wanted to start with a quick review to boost her confidence.

She grabbed the top card off the pile, counted the fireflies and clipped the matching number: six.

Perfect!  The first round of counting clip cards was a success.

After we worked on some smaller numbers, it was time to try those tricky teens!

I asked her how many bugs were in the top frame. She was quick to recognize that there were ten bugs.

Starting at ten, Little Sister tapped each bug as she continued counting on: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.

Carefully, she placed the clothespin on the number 17 and then flipped it over to see if it was aligned on the crayon dot on the back.

She was correct!  These counting clip cards were a great way to practice counting some of those tricky teens!

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Getting Ready

To prepare the cards, I first printed the sheets (found in the download below) on blue cardstock.  I like to print on cardstock to make the clip cards durable for little hands.  Running the cards through the laminator also helps keep the cards extra hearty.

Then, I used my paper trimmer to cut out all the cards.

To make the clip cards self-checking, I simply turned each one and marked a dot on the correct clip spot.  This way, students could flip the card over and see if they clipped the correct answer later.

We were then ready for some counting fun!

Rain Cloud Counting Clip Cards

The set includes cards for practicing counting numbers 0 to 20.

Students started by picking a card.

They looked at the card and counted the number of raindrops to determine which number matched the number of raindrops. The kids used the clothespin to clip the number that matched.

In the example below, five raindrops were counted, so the student clipped the number 5 with a clothespin.

Once a child had clipped a number, he turned the card over to see if he had the correct answer.

Since the dot sticker was on the back of the card marking the correct number, the students independently self-checked their work and immediately knew if they had gotten it right.

Once a child completed a card, he continued counting raindrops for each cloud until he had clipped all the cards.

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Getting Ready

To prepare the making 10 activity, I first printed the making 10 mat and the pot of gold cards on white cardstock. (If you decided to print the black and white version, green cardstock would add a fun pop of color.)

I used my paper trimmer to cut out the cards and ran the mat and cards through the laminator for durability.

After I prepared all of the materials, I grabbed some gold coins that I had picked up from the Dollar Tree, a dry erase marker and an eraser.

Making 10

To begin, my students first picked one of the pot of gold cards.  The cards have gold coin arrangements from 0-10 so there are 11 pot of gold cards for students to choose from.

My kindergarteners counted the gold coins shown on the card and then counted that same number of gold coins on their making 10 mat.

In the example below, this student picked a pot of gold card and counted five gold coins.  The student then counted five gold coins on the ten frame.

The ten frame allowed students to easily count how many more coins they needed to make 10 because students could count the empty boxes on the ten frame.

After counting the five empty boxes on the ten frame, the student said, “Five and five more is 10” to her partner and recorded the number the missing five on the shamrock at the bottom of her mat.

Solving one card a time, students used their gold coins to solve each challenge in the stack.

Making 10 Extension Ideas

Another option for having students determine how many more to make 10 is for students to actually put the cold coins needed to make 10 on the mat.

In our example above, the student would have placed those missing five coins on the mat.

If you are looking for a way to differentiate this activity, you could also have your students record the equation for making 10 on a dry erase board.  Students would write 6 + 4 = 10 on the board if they were to record the equation.

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Valentine Twenty Frames

Prepping these printables was a cinch. I quickly printed out enough copies for each of my students.

Then, I placed them in a math center bin along with crayons and they were ready to go!

Note: You could print them double-sided if you chose to save paper and have kids complete them at the same time. Giving kids a choice about which side to complete first can make something as simple as these printables even more engaging.

In my small group of a few students, the decision was unanimous that they wanted to “count hearts first” so count hearts we did!

We are working hard on seeing teen numbers as “ten and some more” when looking at a twenty frame. So, instead of counting from one, the goal is to start at ten and count on.

Our first set had 18 hearts. We could see the first set of 10 quickly, and so we counted on – “11, 12, 13, 14, 15 ,16, 17, 18.” 

One of my students took his number sense skills even further and said, “I know it’s 18 because if it was full it would be 20, and there are 2 gone.”  Yes!

These kind of conversations while we work are so valuable and just what I am aiming for as we casually count, color and write.

Next, we were ready to fill in our own twenty frames, which gave us great practice in reading teen numbers as well.

We read the number in the heart and then filled in the twenty frames to match. We used crayons, but it would have been super fun to use Q-tips and paint.  I think I might print these off on their own for another time and do just that!

Grab Your Download

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Ten frames are simple but highly useful tools that allow children to “see” numbers.  They make it easy to picture how the numbers 1-10 relate to one another and help develop a good number sense using 5 and 10 as benchmarks.

Getting Ready

To make my egg carton ten frames, I first gathered a few supplies:

• • 55 counters (beads, jelly beans, chicks, or something that would fit in an egg work well)
  • 10 jumbo Easter eggs
  • A basket to hold the eggs
  • Egg carton
  • Ten frames printable (attached)
  • Dot markers or dot stickers

I first cut the lid off an egg carton.  Then, I cut the carton in half width-wise, overlapping the cups so that I would only have ten instead of the usual 12. I hot glued the two halves together.

(Even though this activity only needs one ten frame, I made a few in anticipation of working on teens and twenties in the future.  If your child isn’t ready to work with numbers over five, you could make a five frame instead.)

Next, I gathered 10 jumbo eggs and filled them with the chick counters.  I placed 1 in the first egg, 2 in the second, and so on until I reached 10.

Finally, I printed 10 ten frames, grabbed a yellow dot stamper and called my 4 year-old over to play.

Egg Carton Ten Frames

There is something about Easter eggs that gets my daughter excited. She couldn’t wait to see what was hiding in our “huge-mongus” eggs.  Before she opened an egg, I handed her the egg carton and had her count the cups.  I explained that this was a ten frame and she could use it to count.  I showed her how to place only one item in each cup and how to fill the frame in a row or in pairs.

Filling the frame in rows (the top ten frame in the picture below) helps children strengthen one-to-one correspondence and visualize the benchmark numbers 5 and 10 and how they relate.

Filling the frame in pairs (the bottom ten frame in the picture above) also helps with one-to-one correspondence but also is useful for visualizing pairs, odd/evens and part/part/whole relationships.

After a quick introduction, I invited A to pick an egg and count what was inside.  She was giddy when she opened the egg and saw the fuzzy cuteness hiding inside.  She carefully placed each little chick in a cup as she counted out loud, “one, two!”

“Great! Now which ten frame shows the number two?” I asked showing her the printable.  I showed her how she could use the dot marker to make one stamp in each square of the ten frame to show she counted two chicks.

The next egg A picked had 3 chicks in it and A immediately placed them in the ten frame then marked them on her paper.  Before she picked her third egg, I stopped her and asked her to look at the frame with two chicks and the frame with three.

“Which number is bigger?” I asked.

“This one,” she said pointing at the one with three dots.

“How do you know?” I questioned.

“It has more,” she replied.

“How much more?” I asked.  When she compared the two frames, it was easy for her to see that three is one more than two.  A continued counting eggs. I periodically stopped her to have her look and compare various numbers.  Using the frames, A was also able to see how the more difficult larger numbers related to each other.  When asked how much more is 10 than 8, she instantly answered “Two!”

A, methodically worked her way through the basket, saving the golden egg for last.  Can you guess what special number was hidden in that egg?  Ten, of course.  Since ten is such an important number I decided to make it stand out with a shiny golden egg and 10 rainbow chicks.

When A was finished counting, comparing and swooning over her little chicks, I quickly added eyes, a beak, and feet to the dots she made on her paper ten frames.  She couldn’t wait to put her chickies up in her room and now she nods off at night staring at her “chick chart.”  Sweet dreams, my little chicky!

Find More

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They pair perfectly with our Number Formation Pack!

Spring Ten Frame Subtraction

Ten frames are a popular learning tool in many early elementary classrooms, and they are definitely amazing to use for mathematical thinking and strategy.

Counting, subitizing (recognizing sets instantly without counting each item), one to one correspondence, grouping – there are many ways that ten frames are used in early mathematics.

Since my kids are so familiar with ten frames because we use them almost daily, I knew that incorporating them as a tool for their first attempts at subtraction would make my students feel comfortable and confident.

Prepping this activity was super simple – I just printed off the page I wanted to use first, grabbed some crayons and I was set!

My small group and I got started by reading the equation on the first flower: 10 – 8.

We knew that the first number in a subtraction equation tells us how many to start with, so we first put ten dots in our ten frame.

The second number was eight, meaning that eight went away, and were gone. We physically put X’s on eight dots to cross them out.

The act of placing dots on the ten frame and then crossing them out was helpful for my students because they were able to act out the problem.

We could easily see that 10 – 8 = 2 since there were just two dots remaining on the ten frame.

We kept reading equations on the flower, placing dots on the ten frames and crossing them off to solve the problems until our page was complete!

Grab Your Download

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Getting Ready

My kids love puzzles, and I love to have a variety of them to meet the different needs of my students. Some of my kids need some practice with numbers 1-12, and these puzzles capture their attention with their bright and colorful pictures to count!

To prep the number puzzles, I printed the pages, laminated them so that I can use them multiple times and then cut them apart on the bold lines. They were ready in a flash!

Number Puzzles Counting to 12

Time to count! We first ordered the numbered cards 1 to 12. This was a great chance to see who could recognize numbers as well as understand number sequence.

Then, we grabbed a card with a spring picture set and began to count! This was a great chance to see who had one-to-one correspondence and also who could subitize (recognize numbers in a set instantly without counting).

After counting 8 flowers, we grabbed the number 8 from the number line and put them together.

Next, we counted 12 rabbits. We grabbed the number 12 and put them together to complete that set as well. We kept matching and playing until all 12 puzzles were complete!

If you wanted to make the number puzzle activity more independent, you could also opt to write the numeral on the back of the counting cards to make them self checking. If you do, just be sure to print them on cardstock so that they aren’t see through!

Grab Your Set

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Getting Ready

This activity was super easy to prepare!  Those activities are always the best ones, right?

I printed the clip cards on white cardstock to give them added durability with little hands.  You could also laminate them!

I used my paper trimmer to cut out the cards and then grabbed a set of clothespins.

We were ready for some counting clip card fun!

Football Counting Clip Cards

Students first started by picking a card of their choice.

They looked at the footballs shown on the clip card and counted the number out loud.

The first student determined there were nine footballs, so she clipped the number 9 with a clothespin.

What I love about these cards is that some students could use subitizing skills to determine the number of footballs. (Subitizing means instantly recognizing the number of objects in a set without needing to count them one by one.)

For instance, one boy immediately recognized a group of six footballs so he counted on three more to determine that there were nine all together.

Once students completed one card, they continued the same process until they’d worked their way through the entire set of counting clip cards.

Grab Your Download

Just click the blue button below to grab your free download of these fun counting clip cards. Then, make sure to hop over and snag our Number Formation Pack for more math fun!

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Getting Ready

To make the rainbow placemat, I quickly cut a rainbow from construction paper, making each band of color about 3/4 in thick.

Next, I glued the rainbow to a 12 x 18 inch sheet of light blue construction paper, added clouds and used a black permanent marker to write the numbers 1 to 10 on each color of the rainbow.

Since we’d be placing food on the play mat, I covered both sides with clear contact paper. (You could also laminate it if you have a large enough laminator.)

Finally, I grabbed a pair of dice and turned my attention on getting the edible part of the game ready.

I headed to the kitchen to prepare a snack item for each color of the rainbow.  I counted out 10 each of red raspberries, orange carrot slices, yellow banana slices, green cucumber, blue blueberries and purple grape halves.  If you have the time to prep, this is a great way to get your kiddos to eat a variety of colorful fruits and veggies, but it can also be used with snacks straight from the box like colored goldfish and fruit gummies.

Then, we were ready to place the rainbow dice game!  And eat, of course.

Playing the Rainbow Snack Dice Game

I called my daughter over and explained the rules of the dice game.  She needed to fill each row of the rainbow with exactly 10 items of food by using the dice to roll the numbers of items she can place on her mat.

She could choose to add the 2 numbers or use them separately.  A could also add the items to any color of her choice.  For example, if she rolled a 2 and 6, she could add 8 snack items to a single color or add 2 to one color and 6 to another.

To complete a row, she had to roll the exact number needed for that color.

A quickly grabbed the dice and rolled a 3 and 5.  She chose to add them together and used her finger to count up from 5 to figure out she needed to count out 8 red raspberries.

Next, she rolled a 4 and 6.  She wanted to complete her red color row, but I reminded her she needed to roll the exact number to complete the row.  She looked down at the red row and determined she needed 2 to finish that row and that both 4 and 6 were too big.  So, she decided to add the numbers together and – viola!  The orange row was filled.

A kept rolling, counting, and adding, trying to fill the rows in rainbow order if she could.  This dice game really had her thinking.

Once she had her rainbow completed, it was time to dig in.  Apparently A worked up quite an appetite during this 10-minute game because she barely took a breath between fistfuls of snack.  I’m already thinking up some colorful combinations for our next rainbow snack dice game!

For more math fun, check out our awesome Number Formation Pack!

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Getting Ready

This heart counting mat was super easy to prepare!

I just printed the download (below) and ran the mat through my laminator since students would be using a dry erase marker to write the number of hearts they counted. You could place it in a plastic sleeve instead if you’d prefer.

I grabbed some plastic red and pink hearts that I had picked up from the Dollar Tree. Candy hearts, mini erasers or foam-shape hearts would work well, too. You could even change up the manipulative that students are using.

I like to give my students their manipulatives in a small container.  The plastic container for storing the hearts also came from the Dollar Tree.

I grabbed a paper clip and pencil for spinning the spinner and a dry erase marker for writing the number.

We were ready for some heart counting!

Heart Counting Mats

For this center, my students first spun the 1-20 spinner.  In the example below, the clip landed on the number 8.

The children counted out the number of hearts to match the number they spun on the spinner.  Since the student spun 8 on the spinner, they counted out 8 hearts on the ten frame.

Counting out the hearts was great one-to-one counting practice!

After the students counted out the 8 hearts on the ten frame, the final step was for them to write how many hearts they counted.

It’s important for my students to be able to write the number that matches the set they counted, so I love giving them the opportunity to practice writing numbers on these heart counting mats

Students repeated the some process: spinning, counting and writing until their time was finished.

The heart counting activity would be great for independent or partner work.  Once students are familiar with it, it would even be a great addition to a math station in the classroom!

Grab Your Download

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Getting Ready

I printed a copy of the St. Patrick’s Day puzzles HERE on cardstock to give them extra durability and cut along the thin grey lines to separate the strips. Then, I mixed up the pieces and invited my boys to sort them into ABC and 123 order.

St. Patrick’s Day Puzzles

Piece by piece, they started building the puzzles.

And in just a couple minutes, both puzzles were complete.

I slid the St. Patrick’s Day puzzles into separate snack sized Ziplocs and placed them in my bag so I could easily entertain the boys when we’re waiting in doctors’ offices, restaurants, or anywhere we can sneak in a bit of learning!

Grab Your Set

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Getting Ready

Prep for these counting cards are simple. You just need to print, laminate and cut them apart. In less than five minutes, your kiddos can be on your way to counting to 10!

You can use white pom poms for snowballs, mini snowflake Christmas tree ornaments (or buttons) or small snowmen with the fun snow scene. By changing what you are counting, you can make a brand new activity without needing to print again.

Counting Cards to 10

For a young child who is just being introduced to counting, place a matching number of stickers onto each card. For example, on the “Five” card, add five stickers. This will give your child the chance to practice one-to-one correspondence and they will know that when all of the stickers have been covered on their counting card, that is the correct amount.

Many young children have difficulty understanding that numbers actually relate to a certain amount of objects, so showing them that “five” actually means “5 snowballs” is a concrete way of helping them understand an abstract thought.

Extension Activities with Counting Cards

The counting cards are also a great way to practice vocabulary and language skills. You can introduce seasonal words like snowflake, ice, snowman and cold.

Because these counting mats only have numerals written on them, you can use them with any language, making this a great activity for ESL learners or introducing a foreign language.

For more advanced children, you can turn the cards into a game for addition or subtraction. For addition, place a smaller number of counters onto the mat. On the seven mat, you might place 3 pom poms. Then, ask your child how many more they need to make 7.

For subtraction, do the opposite. Add too many counters to the mat and ask your child how many need to be removed to have the correct number.

Any way you use them, these counting cards will be a fun addition to your math time!

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Getting Ready

This Reindeer Coverall activity is super easy to prepare!

There are four different mats included in the download (found below) so you can choose which mat best meets the needs of your students.

If you’ll be using the game in a classroom, I would recommend laminating the mats or putting them in a plastic sleeve protector for durability.

I first printed the coverall mats on white card stock.

Then, I grabbed some festive red and green pom poms.  They were the perfect manipulative to use to cover the spaces on the mats.

I also grabbed some playing dice.  Depending on which version of the game you are using, you will either need one playing die to practice the numbers 1 to 6 or two dice if you’d like to work on 2 through 12.

Reindeer Coverall Activity for Numbers 1-6

There are two versions of the Reindeer Coverall activity mat included in the download for students to practice working with numbers 1-6.

One version has ten frame representations for the numbers 1-6, like this:

The other version has the numerals 1-6 on the mat for students to cover, like this:

To play, students took turns rolling the dot cube.

Then they counted the number of dots that landed on top, told their partner what they rolled and covered that ten frame or number on their mat.

When the first player rolled a three, she grabbed a green pom pom and covered up the matching three ten frame on her mat.

Students continued rolling the dot cube and covering the ten frame or numeral until they covered all of the spots on their mat.

Reindeer Coverall Activity for Numbers 2-12

Also included in the download are two versions of the Reindeer Coverall activity mat for students to work with numbers 2-12.

One version has ten frame representations for numbers 2-12:

The other version has the numerals 2-12:

Just like before, students rolled their dice, named the number that landed on top and covered the matching numeral on their mat.

Only this time, they were playing with TWO dice instead of one, so students could stretch themselves with beginning addition. They might count all of the dots together or you could have them say the addition equation.

For instance, when a student rolled a four and a one, she added the dots together by counting and determined that the sum was five.  She said, “four plus one equals five all together.”  Then, she covered the 5 on her mat.

Such a simple yet motivating activity!

Grab Your Download

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They are the perfect addition to our Number Formation Pack!

Getting Ready

To prep the activity, I printed the sheets (found in the download below) on white cardstock.  I find that printing the cards on cardstock gives them extra durability for little hands.  You could also choose to run the cards through the laminator for even more durability.

Then, I used my paper cutter to cut out the clip cards.

I grabbed a handful of clothespins and a small basket.  I like to store materials in bins or baskets.  This makes it easy for my students to carry all of the things they will be working with during math.

To make the clip cards self-checking, I simply turned each card over and marked a dot on the correct clip spot.  This way students could flip the card over and see if they clipped the correct answer later.

Viola! We were ready for some Snowman Counting Clip Card fun.

Snowball Counting Clip Cards

The Snowball Counting Clip Cards include counting snowballs 0-20.

Students started by picking a card.

They looked at the snowballs on the card and counted the number of snowballs.  Then, they determined which number matched the number of snowballs.  They clipped that number on the card with their clothespin.

In this example, the student counted the snowballs on the card and determined there were 12 snowballs.  He clipped the number 12 on the card.

Once students completed a card, they repeated the same process for each card until all of the cards had been clipped.

Differentiation Ideas

You could easily differentiate the activity by choosing specific numbers for students to focus on.

For example, you could just have children use just 0-10 cards.

Or, if you wanted your students to practice numbers with ten and some more, you could pull out the 10-19 snowball cards.

Grab Your Download

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Oh, and there’s absolutely ZERO PREP. What’s not to love?!

Snag your place value pack in my shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers. Then, for more math fun, check out our Number Formation Pack!

Easily Differentiate

The place value cover ups come in THREE different versions so you can easily stretch your strongest learners or break concepts down for students who need more support.

To play, kids will use clues to figure out a batch of mystery numbers.

Kindergarteners can play the 1 to 50 version while first graders work on 1 to 120…

And second graders solve for numbers up to 1,000!

My kids and I have been practicing different ways to make numbers F-O-R-E-V-E-R but this was a fun chance to pull it all together because the clues had so much variety. 

Sometimes they had to count base ten blocks, other times they had to add 10 more or figure out what number was 100 less… 

They LOVED solving the clues and I loved that they were practicing place value in so many different ways.

It was a win all around!

Grab Your Place Value Cover Ups

Snag your set in my shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers! And then check out our Number Formation Pack!

The post Place Value Cover Ups appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Grab your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!  Then, for more number work, check out our fun Number Formation Pack in our shop!

Knowing Where to Start

Before jumping into the activities, I gave Middle Brother (age 5) a quick assessment. I filled a cup with 10 counting beans and then dumped three of the beans into my hand. I showed them to Middle Brother and asked him to quickly tell me how many beans I was holding.

“Three!” he called out immediately.

I placed the beans back in the cup and dumped five beans into my hand. This time, when I showed him the set, he took a long pause and began counting the beans one by one. Since I wanted to know the smallest number he could not instantly recognize, I knew I needed to do a little more testing. Three was too easy and five was too hard so I pulled out four beans from the cup and showed them to him to see how he responded.

“That’s easy – four!” he said.

That was just the information I needed. He had three and four down but needed to start working on five.

I quickly printed the number five sheets and invited him over to join me again.

Decomposing Numbers

Middle Brother started with the unifix cube sheets first.

He built a stack of red unifix cubes, colored the picture to match and wrote the corresponding number sentence.

Then he removed one of the red cubes and replaced it with a blue…

Middle Brother continued replacing just one brick at a time, coloring his picture and writing the matching number sentence.

Then we swapped out the cubes for counting beans! He shook his cup and dumped the five beans on the table. Counting the number of reds and whites, he colored his picture and wrote the number sentence.

Then we grabbed the two-colored counters and repeated the same steps again.

Once he had five down, we switched to number six! The activity pack made it so easy to differentiate for his specific needs.

Grab Your Pack

Make number decomposition fun! Grab your activity pack in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!  And keep the fun going with our Number Formation Pack!

The post Number Decomposition appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

So I made this really fun I Spy {his latest obsession} math game – to help teach number recognition.  Then, after spying numbers, check out our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

This is the perfect activity to do with your preschooler while on a road trip, or while you are making dinner but they are hanging onto your leg begging for something to do because they are so “boooorrrrrreeeeddd”. {Please tell me I am not the only one whose child does that!}

Number Recognition I Spy

To play, I printed off the nine pages and had my son grab the medium of choice. Some of his favorites are:

• Do-A-Dot Markers
• Star stickers
• Plain ol’ crayons

I cut off the bottom section of the page my son was going to be working on. {The numbers are printed below the dotted line with the scissors graphic for adults to reference.}

Then I picked the number 16 and said, “I spy sixteen”.

My son found the 16 on his I Spy sheet, marked it and said, “It has a one and six.”

Having him tell me the individual numbers that make up the number let me know he got it right. For instance, when I said, “I Spy the number 20,” he found it and said, ” Two, zero. Twenty.”

That is it!

This is really fun for kids who are not only learning their numbers but also those kids who may benefit from some review.

Grab Your I Spy Sheets

Be sure to below and then hop over and check out our Number Formation Pack!

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After reading the classic If You Give a Mouse a Cookie a few days ago, I pulled out a little surprise for my kids: a set of cookie counting cards in serious need of some chocolate chips. They were THRILLED with the challenge and eagerly got to work.

I hope your kids love the freebie, too!  You’ll love our Number Formation Pack, too!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links for Laura Numeroff’s books.

Getting Ready

I printed the “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” counting cardson cardstock to give them extra durability and make the colors really pop.

Then I cut them apart and grabbed a bag of chocolate chips from the pantry.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Counting Cards

Big Brother {age 5} was ready to jump right into teen numbers so he grabbed eleven and started adding the chips.

Since Middle Brother {age 3.5} was still practicing reading numbers and counting one object at a time, I had him start with the number 1, then move on to number 2 and so on.

One card after another, the boys read {snacked} and counted their way to better number sense.

Scroll below and click the blue button to download your free counting cards and then make sure to scroll down and check out even more Laura Numeroff inspired activities your kids will love!  Then, check out our Number Formation Pack as well for more math fun!

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