Before I talk about today’s activity, I want to bring some insight to the table so that you will know even more about your child’s development. If you read the math page of daily funwork, you will learn that today’s activity meets the needs of the earliest skills to practice….counting objects. So that is why today’s activity will not incorporate number symbols.
1. Find a clean sock, mitten, or something that you cannot see through.
2. Count out a group of 5 counters such as marbles, blocks, coins, etc.
Order some counters for future activities (if you don’t have any counters you can use):
3. Count out the manipulatives you selected with your child.
4. Invite your child to play a guessing game where you will place the “marbles” in the sock and then take some of them out. You will show them how many you took out and ask them to guess how many are left. If your child guesses higher than the number, ask questions such as “Do you think there are more than 5 or less than 5 left now that I took some out?” to get them to use critical thinking. Let your little one feel the sock to try to figure out the amount left. Take them out and count to check how many are left after each turn.
*If your child is not yet ready for this skill, if they are not guessing anywhere near the correct number after many times of practice, it is OKAY, use it as a counting practice activity 🙂
