Make practicing counting, adding, and more extra fun with this fall counting and writing activity.
You might remember these apple manipulatives we used in this ten frames activity. This time, I added it to a salt tray for some fun writing and counting practice.
You will need:
- Apple manipulatives(make your own like us from salt dough or use mini erasers, for example. Red bottle tops can work too!)
- Green craft foam or cardboard
- Tray and some small containers
- Salt
- Writing utensil(we used a red straw)
Prepping the tray
Cut leave shapes from the craft foam/cardboard. Number your leaves. You can go up to whichever number your child is familiar with. Add them to a container and add the manipulatives to another container.
Add all the supplies mentioned above to the tray as seen in the image.
Your little ones can simply pick a numbered leaf, recognize the number, write the number in the salt and count out manipulatives accordingly.
Children that are a bit older can use this tray for making sums.
First, decide if it would be an addition sum or subtraction sum. This will depend on which skill your child need practice. When introducing sums, we typically start of with addition and then subtraction.
Then, pick two leaves. For addition sums any number can go first, but for subtraction sums the largest number must go first(a lesson on its own). Add the leaves and count out the corresponding manipulatives. Now count them all together(for addition) or take away some(for subtraction) to get to the answer. Write down the answer in the salt or find the correct leave as answer.
This is a simple way to practice writing and sums, but quite effective because it is hands-on- meaning the child experiences the mathematical side by handling the manipulatives.
Would your child like this apple tray activity?
See more Apple themed activities here:
Nadia is South African mom to two littlies, a former preschool teacher and currently working as a reading therapist at a remedial school. She blogs over at Teach Me Mommy about easy and playful activities inspiring you to be your child's first teacher. Follow along on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.
