Tots and Me... Growing Up Together: counting

Showing posts with label counting. Show all posts

Monday, November 30, 2015

E is for...Egg Carton Math Mat

Cristi from Through the Calm and Through the Storm and Meg from Adventures with Jude are hosting this great weekly party called Blogging Through the Alphabet. All are welcome to join in, just make sure to keep your posts family-friendly. I am determined to stay faithful this time around. I might not always post on the same day of the week, but I have every intention to post something each week.

Here is how I decided my "theme" for this round of Blogging Through the Alphabet. As I was going through old blog posts recently, I noticed I have some neat ideas for activities and crafts that I did with in the past. Unfortunately, I always included them in my weekly wrap up posts or more recently in Poppins Book Nook posts, so they sort of got buried. I can't really share them as individual activities or create pinnable images to promote them and share my ideas, which is why I started this blog in the first place (to share my ideas with others who work with children). So, I am going to make new posts for these ideas.

I have found there is a huge benefit in this strategy. I am remembering ideas that I had forgotten, which means I can now do these activities with the younger children. I will be sharing the old pictures and possibly sharing new pictures of the younger children participating. In fact, this is the second week where I wasn't sure what I was going to post about, and through searching my blog I found activities I had completely forgotten about.

Five summers ago I focused on one number a week with Tabitha and Amelia. We made a number book and did number crafts. I also came up with a fun way to display our numbers. Then I used that activity to further the girls' math knowledge during the following school year.

E is for . . . Egg Carton Math Mat

I printed out a picture of an egg carton and wrote "How many eggs?" on the bottom. Then I added Velcro strips to each cup, plus one piece to the middle of the lid. I also cut out little oval "eggs" and put the other side of the Velcro on the back of them.

Originally this egg carton paper was attached to our poster. I had made paper strips which had the number written out plus the numeral. The girls were to a place the number strip to the carton and then attach the correct number of eggs. As we made our way through the summer, more and more eggs filled our egg carton.

As I mentioned, during the next school year I then thought this would be a fun way to work on math skills. Specifically, the concept of zero. First I asked the girls if the egg carton was full or empty. When they told me it was full I took one egg away at a time, each time asking if it was now empty. Finally, it was empty and they learned that there were zero eggs in the egg carton.

Then we worked on some subtraction. I made up some equation cards from 1-12, plus some number cards for the same amounts.

These equation cards looked like this:

The Numeral - Empty Box with Question Mark = 0

I put the card above the egg carton and the girls had to put the correct number of eggs in the carton.

Then I asked them how many eggs they would have to take away to make it empty again, to equal zero. They used the number cards. These cards were just square pieces of paper that fit over the square on the equation card.

They found the right number, and took away the eggs. Then they put the numeral card in the equation.

Both Tabitha and Amelia enjoyed this hands-on math activity. They were only 3 and 2 years old at the time.

This can also be used for general addition and subtraction practice for numbers up to 12.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Toddler Ideas Tuesday: September 30, 2014

Welcome back to Toddler Idea Tuesdays! I hope you will join with me again in sharing the fun activities, crafts, and lessons that you are doing with your young children.

I apologize for there being a few weeks between posts again. I do mean for this to be a weekly link up, but between trying to get organized and internet/computer issues, it hasn't been happening. Hoping for a better future of Toddler Idea Tuesdays!

It has been difficult to find time some days to get the one-on-one time I would like to have with the younger two children. I am still working out our schedule and my organization to have things run smoothly. However, last week, I did make some new learning activities for them. This was to go along with our Poppins Book Nook theme of The Wild West. Our focus was Wild West Fairy Tales, though our trays were mostly inspired by the main ideas in the tales themselves, so there really wasn't a western theme there.

On Tuesday we read "Little Red Cowboy Hat" by Susan Lowell, along with "Little Red Riding Hood", so our learning activities centered around the color red.

Harold hasn't had much of a chance to use these yet, but Hannah's favorite was the Bead Counting on Pipe Cleaners.

For this simple activity, Hannah placed beads on the pipe cleaners to match the counting chart I made. She was able to work on counting, number recognition, and fine-motor skills.

I also put together a Block Counting Basket.

For this block counting activity, I added 1-1 peg block, 2- 2 peg blocks, 3- 3 peg blocks and 4- 4 peg blocks for them to sort and count and build with. We haven't had much time to use this one yet though.

Next, I put together a Red Sensory Bin.

Unfortunately, this was one they didn't have any time to use.

I was quite happy with the way my new Word Family Tray turned out. I have always enjoyed coming up with activities that will help the children learn to read, and we like to focus on word families.

I have found that these Tupperware trays are very good for some learning trays. For this activity I set out the "at" in the top left-hand corner using felt letters, then I placed more consonants in the lower corner, letters that would make words when added to the "at." In the middle compartment, I set out blank index cards on top and a pile of "at" family words on the bottom. On the right, is a red pencil (to keep with our theme).

Hannah was to build the word directly on the index card, covering the written letters.

Then she wrote the word on a blank card.

On Tuesday we read "Dusty Locks and the Three Bears," also by Susan Lowell, along with Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

I made a theme-related size sorting activity.

And I also brought out the Bean Sorting.

I had some other ideas for learning trays, but I just ran out of time. However, they were kept quite busy with our craft projects during the week. In addition to the two books mentioned above, we read two other books by Susan Lowell: The Three Little Javelinas (The Three Little Pigs) and The Bootmaker and the Elves (The Shoemaker and the Elves).

If you would like to see all of the craft projects and food ideas that I had to go along with this theme, I invite you to check out this month's Poppins Book Nook post, Fun With Wild West Fairy Tales. At the bottom of the post, you will find a linky with many other great Wild West Themed posts linked up, plus a wonderful giveaway. For this post, I wanted to focus on the Toddler/Preschooler Learning Trays/Sensory Activities.

Now onto:

Toddler Idea Tuesday Features

On my last Toddler Idea Tuesday post, there were 5 wonderful posts linked up. I will be picking one randomly selected post to share, plus the top clicked-on post.

This week's randomly selected post is:

Katie's August Tot Trays, posted by Greatly Blessed.

The following post received the most clicks.

20+ Busy Bags to Entertain the Littles, posted by Embark on the Journey.

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your toddler? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on my Toddler Ideas board and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up. Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our toddler time. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your toddler, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Linky will be open through Sunday night, to give me time to check out all the posts and get the Features organized.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Toddler Ideas Tuesday: April 29nd, 2014

Welcome back to Toddler Idea Tuesdays! Have you been busy with your young children?

We just finished a unit on Planes, Trains and Automobiles for Poppins Book Nook. Our focus was on planes. I decided to bring out some related Montessori type, fine-motor activities for Hannah and Harold.

So, bring on the clouds...

Spooning "Clouds"

Size Order "Clouds" with Counting

"Cloud" Counting

(One-to-one)

Now onto:

Toddler Idea Tuesday Features

1- Jennifer from Reviews, Chews and How-tos shared Devishly Good Eggs.

2- Jennifer also shared her craft tutorial for Easter/Springtime Candy Holders made out of toilet paper tubes.

3- Jennifer from Hint Mama shared how to turn "Mommy Getting Ready Time" into an activity.

What sort of activities do you do with your toddler? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on my Toddler Ideas board and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up. Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our toddler time. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your toddler, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Teaching Toddlers Number Recognition and Math Readiness

Welcome to the first day of the 5 Days of Teaching Toddlers. Today I am going to focus on some of the fun number/counting activities we have done with the children.

Rote counting:

Since they were very young we have counted the steps as we come downstairs. When daddy started counting the steps with Tabitha after we moved into the house, I don't think we realized we would still be doing it 5 years later. We have 16 steps and when we get to step 11 you can reach the wall that is the children's bedroom closet. As toddlers they have learned to anticipate that number 11 because they get to hit the wall. And after we say 16 and are downstairs, we say, "Hello Downstairs!" The girls used to hit the banister while I said that, Harold on the other hand is fascinated by the portraits on the wall of my older children (Steven, Floyd and Krystal) when they were young.

One-to-One Counting/Number Recognition:

When I was working at the Montessori in the toddler room we came up with this fun activity and I decided to make it for the girls. I printed numbers onto cardstock from the DLTK-Growing Together Number Template page. Then I cut them out and "laminated" them (when I say laminated, it means I covered them with contact paper). Each number gets the corresponding number of Velcro pieces. Then I print and cut out little matching pictures. In the past I have done the snowmen for winter (pictured below), this year I think I will have the pictures match our theme.

I also love that it is a great way to introduce the number zero, because there are no Velcro pieces attached they can't attach any pictures.

If I had been thinking, I would have used black Velcro so it would stand out better.

We count the number as we put the pictures onto the Velcro.

In addition to the above activity, we have done one-to-one number crafts. I have used craft sticks, plus we have made crafts to go with our lessons.

One of the earliest number activities I remember doing with Tabitha included jumbo craft sticks and dried kidney beans. I used 5 craft sticks and wrote the numbers 1 through 5 on the top of the sticks. For each stick I then sat down with Tabitha and we counted as I put the appropriate number of glue dots using white Elmer's glue. Then we counted again as she put the beans on the glue. I recommend using the white glue for these activities because the child can actually see the dots of glue that correspond to the number on the stick. Of course, glue sticks wouldn't work for beans anyway, but I have used these Counting Number Sticks to make ants on a log as well, using construction paper ants.

Here is a look at our ladybug counting that was a part of our Ladybug Lapbook.

(There are numbers up there, they are just hard to see)

And we also did apple seeds on apple slices, though the numbers were on the back instead.

We played a game where they lined them up in order

Then we flipped them over.

And they had to match the numerals on the one set, to the quantity on the other.

One summer when we were focusing on a number a week we played a game. I stood in the living room and told the girls they needed to follow my directions. I asked them to bring me certain objects, one at a time. I said, "Tabitha, please bring mommy one block. Amelia please bring me one doll." Then when they brought me the requested object I asked for another from each of them. We laid them out on the couch and took a picture. Made a great activity for listening and following directions and learning the quantity of "one."

The following week we did the number 2.

Here are some other fun things to do with counting:

We count blocks as we build.
We point to the numbers as we count the days on our calendar.
We count buttons/snaps as we get dressed.
We clap and count.
Even at a young age they are helping in the kitchen, especially when we do Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen. We always count when we add ingredients in. I also have them help make juice (frozen, from concentrate) and they count how many cans of water we are putting in. While we count I make sure to let them know how much we need (3 cans of water or how many cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, etc). As we go I ask them how many more we need to make the required number, showing them that the number needed decreases as we add more.

Fun Counting Songs (These are songs we sung at the Montessori and I continued singing with the girls):

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Once I caught a fish alive

6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Then I let him go again

Why did you let him go?

Because he bit my finger so!

Which finger did he bite?

This little finger on the right!

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1 little, 2 little, 3 little Indians

4 little, 5 little, 6 little Indians

7 little, 8 little, 9 little Indians

10 little Indian boys and girls.