Cheerio Abacus

A is for Abacus

As Mason has started on his letter of the week program we made this Abacus from a cardboard box, cheerios and fishing wire. Very simple to make. I attached the wire and let him thread the Cheerios and we counted them as we put them on. He seems to love it, regularly going to his Montessori shelves and laying on his tummy and counting them across.

Reindeer Noses

Sick of boring candy cane gifts for friends?
Well this year we gave out these cuties!
Made with 8 maltesers and 1 jaffa, they got a smile from all of Tara's classmates. Here is a similar label that the folks at Pigeon have handed out free so print these off as many times as you need and get to work sorting your treats-great activity for the kids to get involved in to practise counting,sorting and of course not EATING!

http://www.pigeonbaby.com.au/pigeon/reindeerNoses.pdf

Number bridge

This was an activity i thought up after many days of constant rain and being stuck inside. It was done in our kitchen but it could be adapted to anywhere using cardboard squares inside or some chalk outside.
Using a whiteboard marker to mark out numbers 1 to 10 length ways in order but in a scattered pattern and then used extra numbers on either side of them. Sorry the photo didnt pick up numbers very well..

Tara started at one side of the "bridge" and had to find her way across the bridge by stepping on the correct number order. She found 1 on the first row then found 2 on the second row etc

Made it all the way across the bridge to 10 to finish off crossing it. She then asked me to help her do it backwards like a countdown.It stayed on our kitchen floor for a few days and got a good work out. Easy to wipe off and got us out from behind the desk. Lots of fun!

Depressor stick counting

I found some great tongue depressors at the chemist and they come in handy for so many activities, wooden texture is great for little fingers to feel and so cheap!
This activity involves sticking coloured circles on the sticks and writing in felt tip at the bottom how many stickers are on each one.
Tara then had a bunch of small pom poms she had to place over the matching coloured stickers and count. This helps with the recognition of the number which lately we have been stumbling with since learning to count backwards it all gets a little muddled again.
I chose for the first time to give her the exact number of coloured pom poms so she could self correct but in time just giver her a bowl of assorted colours to increase the difficulty

It was great fun and it still is a favourite she chooses off the shelf herself!