For this activity, Jacob worked on counting up to 10. However, this can easily be adapted for counting lower numbers (1-5) or extended for counting higher.
Activities that involve objects that children can hold in their hands and manipulate are the most effective for teaching the concept of one-to-one correspondence.

  • Playdough
  • Rolling pin
  • Cup
  • Pen lid

  • Roll out the playdough and cut out circle shapes using the cup (your child could help you to do this)
  • Using the lid of a pen, press out the holes, one hole on the first circle, two on the second, etc. (see photos). This is a bit time consuming – but worth the effort!
  • Roll all the pressed-out pieces of playdough into balls
  • Mix up the balls and place them above the circles
  • Ask your child to place the correct colour balls in the holes (developing fine motor skills), starting from 1 and working through to 10 (good practise for colour recognition), counting them as they go

  • If ready, move on to number recognition by introducing written numbers. For example, after the activity is finished, write the numbers on pieces of paper next to the corresponding cake cases. At this stage, just show your child the number you are writing to get him used to making associations, rather than going into detail (developing number recognition)

  • Communication and Language
  • Physical Development
  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development
  • Mathematics