Counting With Objects

It is crucial to let children count with real objects.

I learnt this lesson a few years ago.

My son could recognise numbers 1 to 10 at around 2 years old. I naively thought he understood what they meant.

When he was 4 and struggled with addition, it finally dawn on me... What have I taught him about numbers? Nothing!

So I came up with a series of counting activities for him. I could still remember we had at least one week of continuous counting lessons!

WEEK 14: MATHEMATICS

TOPIC: COUNTING WITH OBJECTS

ACTIVITY 1

Counting the same objects

Materials:

Use similar objects from groups of 1 to 10. If your child/student is a beginner, you can start with 1 to 3 or 1 to 5, depending on the child. You can use straws, ice-cream sticks, lego bricks, etc. As long as you have enough quantity to carry out the activity.
If you have ready number pieces, use them. Otherwise use small pieces of papers and write down a number on each paper.

On the floor or the table, depending on your objects and the space you need, put the numbers in one line. Yes, one line. As much as possible, in one line. This is to give a clear idea of number sequence to the child/student.
Get the child to count the objects and put them next to the number. (refer to Picture A)

ACTIVITY 2

This activity involves some fun play.

It was Valentine's Day and we used Play Dough to make ten hearts. We pretended that the hearts were cakes and the toothpicks were candles.
Then I put a number below each "cake", indicating the number of "candles" to be put on.
After putting the toothpicks on the "cakes", he can then put the numbers on the hearts as decorations. (Refer to Picture A)

ACTIVITY 3

Treasure Hunting

If you have large floor tiles at home, use each tile as a "box" and place a number in each of them.
Then, ask the child/student to find the correct number of things you tell them to.

For example:

1 toy care
2 lego bricks
3 paper cups
4 books
5 colour pencils

Just about anything in the house. Or even in the garden if you have one.

It's fun time with counting! Hope your little ones enjoy these activities.

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