Early Numeracy: Counting songs

Mr Sociable is really interested in counting at the moment. I think they have been doing lots of counting and counting songs at Prep. The other day he randomly just started counting while he was playing with his drums and counted to 39! (He did leave out 15, but otherwise, he did pretty well).

Songs are a great way to practise early counting skills. Some songs teach counting forwards (eg Dr Knickerbocker), others count backwards (eg 10, 9, 8, God is Great!). I started making a list of all the kids counting songs I could think of. This is what I came up with:

Counting forwards

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Once I caught a fish alive

Dr Knickerbocker

One potato, two potato

This Old Man

1, 2 Buckle My Shoe

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Five Fingers on my Hand - Peter Combe)

One Grey Elephant Balancing

Counting Backwards

10, 9, 8, God is Great

10 in the bed

5 little speckled frogs

10 green bottles

5 little joeys/5 little monkeys

6 little ducks

Alice the Camel

Can you think of more? 

Ideas for teaching counting songs
1. Using puppets, toys or foam shapes to represent the characters in the song makes the song fun! It also allows kids to get involved in the "story" of the song and teaches them to represent numbers with objects. Mr Sociable played with some foam frogs and a stick today, singing 5 Speckled Frogs (he actually sang for us at the dinner table, while waiting for everyone else to finish).

2. Teaching kids to use their fingers while counting is good practise for addition and subtraction (eg take away one finger for each verse of 5 Speckled Frogs as the frogs jump off the log).

3. Reading books that illustrate these counting songs. Mr Fun loves to look at books while I sing. Mr Sociable likes to "read" this sort of book to Mr Fun too. If you don't have any of these books, you could write your own - just put one verse of the song on each page and draw a matching picture (or use foam shapes).


Do you remember singing these songs as a child? Do you sing them with your kids?

Early learning about numbers #2

Yesterday we went on a number hunt as we walked up to a local shop. We looked at the numbers on the mailboxes/houses/bins. Mr Sociable ran from house to house - excited to see which number would be next. This was a fun, impromptu activity for practising number recognition.

Bin night was a couple of days ago. I take comfort that we have other
neighbours who are laid-back (erm.... slack) about bringing in bins!

I asked Mr Sociable to find particular boxes in this set -
point to the 10, point to the 3, etc

Quick tip - kids' activity books

A few months ago, I bought a "preschool learning" activity book for Mr Sociable (because I wanted to use my A&R voucher before they closed down!). It's been sitting in my cupboard for months, not being used. There was something too wasteful about using that $12.95 coloured activity book - each page would only be written on once, then put in the recycling. I couldn't do it!

But, then I had an idea... I used a craft knife to cut the pages out & laminated them. Not every page, but lots of them. We now have laminated letter-tracing, number tracing, dot-to-dot, shape-matching, mazes, etc. Although this may seem like a lot of effort (and plastic), I now have a learning resource that Mr Sociable can use over and over, then pass on to younger siblings/friends.

The great advantage of using the book this way is that Mr Sociable can now gain mastery over activities and actually enjoy them (whiteboard markers are always fun!). This morning I showed him how to do a maze. I rubbed it out and he did it again. I went outside to do the washing while he completed the maze again (at his request!).

Completing the maze independently

It always surprises me that kids are happy to keep doing the same activity - but I think they enjoy the feeling of success that comes with knowing what to do. I am hoping that as he learns to do more of these activities, that he will be able to sit and "work" at the table independently while I cook dinner etc.

Practising tracing 'A' - we did this activity together

Early learning about numbers #1

Mr Sociable will be starting prep next year. To help get him ready for that 'school' environment, I've recently started to include some structured "learning time" in our day. He thinks it's really fun - most of the learning is game-based - and he loves having one-on-one attention from Mummy while Mr Fun is asleep.

When preschoolers are learning about numbers, there are two skills to master - counting and identifying numbers.

Counting aloud
Practise counting forwards to 10 (this is the expectation for kids beginning kindy - that they can count to 10). If they have mastered that & are looking for a new challenge, practise counting to 20, or backwards from 10. Don't be surprised if they consistently leave out a particular number (eg. Mr Sociable always forgets 15). Just keep practising - they will get it eventually!

1, 2, 3, go!

Suggestions for making counting fun:
* counting in different voices (eg. cranky voice, loud voice, soft voice, singing voice, etc)
* counting to a beat (eg. drums)
* counting while jumping, skipping, walking, etc
* counting in anticipation (eg. count to 10, then Mummy swings you in the air)
* counting how long it takes to complete a task (eg. can you put on your shoes before I count to 20?) 

Counting objects
When kids are first starting to count, they often don't recognise that the numbers they are saying can correspond to objects. To help them see this correspondence, encourage them to point to objects & count in an ordered way (eg. along a line) or move the objects as they count, so that they know where they are up to.

Making counting fun:
* count out food items (eg. you can have 10 sultanas. Ask child to count them out & make sure there are 10?)
* play with stamps on paper (eg. can you stamp me 8 butterflies? Ask child to count them & check there are 8)
* count number of toys (eg. how many toys do you think we could fit on the chair? Fill up the chair with toys & then count how many there are)

Identifying numbers
The other early number skill is recognising numbers in written format. You can begin by teaching numbers 1-5. Then introduce 6-10. Then 10-15, etc. Again, this learning can be lots of fun. Here are some suggestions:
* number jump - use a foam number playmat on the floor, or write the numbers outside with chalk. Ask your child to jump on the numbers as you call them out (eg. jump on 5, jump on 8, jump on 2, etc)

* number puzzles - these are relatively cheap to buy, or you can make your own. The main thing is that the child needs to match the numerals up (so that they put the 2 on the 2, the 3 on the 3 etc). Talk about the numbers as you do the puzzle. Show them how the numbers are in order. Point to each number and count them.

* magnet play - play with number magnets on the fridge. Ask your child to find particular numbers (eg. can you find me the 4? can you find me the 2?). Practise ordering the numbers - count from 1 up to a certain number & ask what would come next? (at this age, they will generally need to start counting from 1)

* racing car game - download this file. Print out the cars and laminate or attach to cardboard. Cut out the cars. Only use numbers appropriate to your child's stage of learning (1-5, or 1-10), then increase as your child's knowledge increases. Ask your child to find particular cars (can you find car 5? can you find car 10?). Practise lining the cars up in order, then ask them to point to particular numbers (how quickly can you point to 1? how quickly can you point to 5?). Kids in my class used to love having races (I would print out 2 sets of cards & they would race to see who could get them into order first).

Games involving counting and identifying numbers

* Butterfly match. Print out this template for the game. Laminate the pages, or stick onto cardboard. Cut out the butterflies. Lay the number cards out in order. Put the dot cards in a pile. Take turns to turn over a dot card and count the number of dots (practise counting in an orderly way, along the line). Match up the dot card with the number card.
* Hairy faces. Draw a large face for each player. Make a set of cards with numbers 1-10 (or 11-20). Put the numbers cards in a pile, face-down. The first player turns over one of the cards and reads the number. They then add that number of paddle pop sticks or pieces of string to the face as hair. The second player does the same. Focus on identifying the number, then counting out the correct number of "hairs" (extension of this activity is to ask - which head has more hair?).