Today’s free printable is perfect for helping your preschooler learn to count to 10!
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Now that my Three knows her alphabet (I shared our letter of the week series here), we’re focusing on early math activities. I’m loving what I’m learning in the book Preschool Math at Home, by Kate Snow of Kate’s Homeschool Math Help. It’s inspired me to create some of my own activities to teach my Three to count to ten.
Today I’m sharing three sets of printable counting strips.
Count to 10 with counting strips
I printed three different sets of counting strips (get them in the download at the end of this post).
Then I pulled out three sets of small, round manipulatives and asked my Three which ones she’d like to use.
She went straight for the pennies.
I pulled out the simplest set of counting strips. In this set, you’ll get ten strips with plain black dots.
I showed my Three how to put one penny on each dot, counting as she went.
“Let’s count! Ready? One… two. How many pennies do you have?”
The point of this activity was to help her practice one-to-one correspondence while also learning that the total number of objects is the last number you say (the fancy word for this is cardinality).
Next, I pulled out the set which had each number written in the circles. This was a chance to improve her number recognition as she counted. She chose to use our transparent counting chips for this set.
Finally, my Three returned to the pennies for our final set of strips. When I created this set, I only included a number on the final dot for each strip. Again, my goal was to reinforce her understanding of cardinality – the last number you say is the total number of objects.
- If your child doesn’t want to count out loud as she places the counters, count aloud for her.
- Encourage your child to start at the left side of each strip and place the counters one by one, in order.
- As your child gets better at this, mix up the strips instead of doing them in order from 1-10.
- Eventually you can ask your child to compare sets. Put out two strips, have her count the dots, and ask her which one has more dots and which one has fewer dots.
- Advanced learners can add up the dots on two sets. “Let’s count the dots on this strip. Now let’s count the dots here. You have 2 dots and 4 dots. How many do you have all together?”
- You might want to punch a hole in the upper left corner of each set. Then bind them with a metal ring for easy storage.
Grab them here!
See the whole series here