Using the materials from our Number Target Practice activity last week, plus some masking tape, we did a little number hunt the other day.
This activity was really simple, but was great to reinforce the counting and number identification skills we've been working on. It also was an easy way to start introducing the concept of 1:1 correspondence.
Directions:
1. Lay out paper plates with numbers on them. We did this one outside because the weather was gorgeous again.
2. Stick tape on each plate to correspond with the number written on the plate. For example, the #4 plate gets four pieces of tape on it.
3. Starting with whatever plate you'd like, have your child go on a hunt for objects to stick onto the tape. We started with zero and when my son would bring me an object, we'd look for the tape, and since there wasn't any, I'd remind him that zero means nothing... so then we'd move onto the next plate.
4. I encouraged my son to stick to one type of object per plate. We worked on expanding language and building new vocabulary words while he hunted for objects. We described each object, learned it's name, and tried to talk about it using a sentence.
5. As we put the objects onto the tape and made them stick to the plates, we said each number and counted how many objects we'd added.
I was impressed with how focused my little guy was during this activity and how quickly he filled the pieces of tape. We only focused on numbers 0-5, since those are the ones we are working on right now. I can already tell that these activities are helping with his number recognition and counting skills, because he has been singing counting songs more this week and recognizing numbers in books and in his environment as we have been traveling. At the airport this week I even had him try and find our gate number and he was able to.
Another numbers activity that we will probably be trying this week are Make and Count Lady bugs from No Time for Flashcards. I'll let you know how it goes. They look really cute and my little guy loves lady bugs. I also love the suggestions of how to make the lady bugs into math equations and use them with older kids.
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