It is said that when children are good at mathematics they feel more confident and have a better memory, so we all should start learning and playing with numbers in the first years of life.
I hope the activities listed will make your kids happy as it made mines.
These ones were made during this week. I intend to actualize the article as we make new ones.
CARROT HUNTING
Maybe there are other similar games, but this particular one came to my mind when I was having breakfast, so I decided to make it with them and it worked very well.
Material needed
1. Paper carrots – 10, 20 or 30, depending on the numbers your child is already familiar with (she can help you to draw and to cut them. This way the child exercise fine motor skills too).
2.Paper cards with numbers (if the intention is to teach them to count until 10, then make 10 cards with numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10).
3.The draw of a rabbit (just to fake it is a real carrot hunting).
4.An A4 sheet.
Instructions
Put the papers/cards with the numbers in a basket or a bag. If in a box or basket, they must be turned upside down, so your child cannot see the numbers.
The rabbit must be positioned in the “garden” (the A4 sheet).
Then your child takes a card and she must put the number of carrots presented in the card, inside the “garden”, so the rabbit can eat.
P.S. – You can also use it to addition and subtraction, as you can see in this image too.
“Sowing” beans
Material needed
1.Pieces of paper with a number each one. The numbers must be dashed but not totally drawn, so the children can draw the number (can be from 1 to 10 or 1 to 20, depending on your toddler’s knowledge).
2.Beans
3.A pencil
Instructions
Firstly you give your child the cards with the dashed numbers, so she can pass over the number with a pencil and learn how to write it.
After, she puts in that card, the number of beans that correspond to the number shown in the card.
You can also make another version of the activity and just fill in the numbers with beans, so the child can draw it in a different way. Like this:
Numbers city – board game
Material needed
1.A board like the one you can see in the image (we made it from zero. Let me know if you want us to send a bigger image to you, so you can remake it or even use it).
2. Small cars or small dolls, like the Playmobil ones.
3.A dice
Instructions
You cast the dice and start the game. There are squares with instructions like “+1”, so you advance one square. If it is “-3” you back off 3 squares. If there is just a drawing or a color, you just stop there until the next move.
My children loved this one, especially my boy, that is so fond of cars.
Put clothes in the clothesline with numbers in the clothes spring.
The clothes spring must have a number on it and they must be put in the correct order while our child put the clothes in the clothesline.
Target Shooting
This was not made for me, of course. Is a toy, but it is very good to learn to count ten in ten. Children can get entertained for some time, while you ask “what number is this?”
