We were in a park recently where some children were playing, 'What's the time Mr Wolf?'. My son liked the look of it and asked me if we could play so we did. I hadn't played it since I was a child and as we were playing, I realised it was also a fun way for toddlers to practice counting.
That made me think about other games to play that involve counting so your child gets to practise their numbers without even noticing. Hide and seek is a good one and happens to be one of my three-year old's favourite games to play these days. We usually count to 15 before going to find the person hiding.
Generally incorporating counting during play wherever you can is a great way to encourage them to familiarise themselves with numbers while enjoying active play so it doesn't feel like they are under any pressure! My son was jumping on a trampoline with a friend the other day and they decided to take it in turns having the trampoline to themselves rather than jump on it together. We decided to count to 20 and then they would swap. They loved it and were counting and clapping and having a lot of fun.
What other active games can you think of that involve some counting?
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Ooh we just started playing hide and seek! Daughter loves it. But then she just LOVES counting and will often start doing so impromptu. And if she spies an abacus at the doctors, a bank, the library, well she's all over it like a rash. I caught her practising writing her number 1s earlier today after I showed her about 3 weeks ago - unlike her mother she has the memory of an elephant!
ReplyDeleteHopscotch is a good one too, as are those big colourful foam floor tiles you can get. I bought some from Asda for £4 and little lady loves them :Dx
Great ideas! I'm also very impressed to hear your daughter has been diligently practising writing her number 1s! x
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