Ready, set, count! This tactile game is perfect for little learners developing their understanding of counting principles. By learning that numbers represent objects, your child will practice one-to-one correspondence, where each object counted gets its own number. They’ll also learn that—when they’re counting objects—the last number counted represents how many items there are!
What You’ll Need:
- Cupcake tin
- Cupcake liners
- Marker
- A snack with small pieces (like cereal O’s, puffs, blueberries, etc.)
How to Play:
- Fill a cupcake baking tin with cupcake liners.
- Write a number in the center of each liner.
- Have your child fill each cup with the corresponding number of cereal pieces.
Play Tips:
- For the youngest learners, counting to ten or twelve may be a work in progress; start with just 6 cups and then work your way up!
- Older kids can do the number writing themselves. They can also make this activity more challenging by turning the cups upside down and selecting six randomly numbered cups to use for the game.
- For an extra challenge, have your child try to count ALL the snacks at the end of the game (even using just six cups will add up to 21 pieces!)
