Activities

Get down on the infant's level, smile and say, “Come with me to wash your hands. It's time to eat breakfast.

Make a number Bingo game with plastic sleeves that sports card collectors use. These are about 81/2" x 11" and typically have spaces for nine cards. Cut paper to fit in the spaces and write a numeral on each one.

Provide soft, textured number blocks or puzzles for the infant to manipulate during floor time. You can make some number blocks with empty plastic single-serve baby food containers.

Provide blocks with numbers, and encourage the children to place them in order. Once they are in order remove a block and ask which number block is missing.

Read My First Bilingual Book – Numbers (or a similar number board book). Point out numbers on the page and encourage the infant to interact with the pictures. Say, “Here are three bunnies. One, two, three. And here's the number three.

Read My First Number Board Book by DK Publishing to one child or a small group of children. Encourage the children to match real objects to the pictures or photographs. For example, say, "I see two socks on this page.

After reading a counting book, such as My Little Counting Book by Roger Priddy, compare some of the pages. Say, "There are five stars on this page and one ball on this page. There are more stars than balls.

You will need paper plates numbered zero to 10 and Unifix® cubes. Have the children dance to music. When the music stops, the children will look at the plate they are close to and gather that number of children around the plate.

Explain to the children in large group, “I am thinking of a number that describes how many feet a cat has. Can you tell me, Number Detectives?” The children would answer “four.” Be sure to include zero in your clues.

Explain to the children, “I am thinking of a number that describes how many feet a cat has. Can you tell me, Number Detectives?” The children would answer “four.” Be sure to include zero in your clues.

You will need number cards, lots of bottle tops and a timer. Write numerals on the bottle caps and turn them upside down. Have a child draw a card, this is the number everyone is trying to find.

During outdoor play, write the numerals one to five with chalk on the sidewalk or on a wall. Go on a hunt with the children to find one object to place by the numeral one, two objects to place next to numeral two, and so on.

Provide cards in the math center with numbers and/or symbols on them. The children choose a card and act out the number on the card with their body or using gestures so that the other children can guess the number.

Place numeral cards throughout the room in obvious locations. Encourage the children to find a card and return to the group. Say, “You found the numeral three.

Give the children paper plates with the numerals 0–10 written on them. Give the children magazines and encourage them to go on a number hunt. Cut out any numbers they see, and place them on the corresponding plates.

Use a sentence strip to make a number line and cut the number line up so the children have individual numbers. Give the children the numbers mixed up and have them place the numbers in order.

Use a sentence strip to make a number line and cut the number line up so the children have individual numbers. Give the children the numbers mixed up and have the children place the numbers in order.

Provide the children with number lines to look at, sentence strips and number stamps or pens for writing. Encourage the children to create their own number lines.

Prepare cards of the same number using pictures of different objects; one card with three bears, another with three trees and another with three hearts. Repeat for other numbers.

You will need the book Fiesta! by Ginger Guy, numeral cards one through 10, picture cards that match the items in the book, and magnets. Pass out the numeral cards to the children.