Homeschool Fun - Counting Activity for little ones

We're trying to teach Claire how to count & she's got 1-5 down, but beyond that it's fuzzy for her. What can you say! She's just turned three in February. She's doing great. She picks up on a ton of things we might not even notice, but numbers? Not yet.

Here's a fun tactile tool we're using now:

Egg Crate Counting.

I learned this from someone else, but can't remember who (sorry & thank-you!). You put numbers in the bottom of the egg crate and let the little one fill them up with the right amount of items (dry beans, popcorn kernels, buttons, etc.). An older one can count correctly for them while the younger drops in each item being counted.

In France we can get eggs in a crate of ten (not 12) and that just happens to be perfect for what we want her to learn! Since the egg carton is clear, I used colored dots stickers (the kind you can find at an office supply store- they are useful for so many things!) to help the number show up. It worked nicely because I was able to use one color for the first 5 numbers and another color for the next set of 5. Once she learns the basics, we might just have to get a set of 18 or 30 eggs. :-)  Here's some pics:

Family fun - bonding over math! Counting basics 1-10.

Putting one kernel in 1, two kernels in 2, three kernels in 3, etc.
You can also just put one in each number slot and then dump them out and count them up at the end. 

She did great up to 6 this time! We'll keep working on the others as long as she enjoys it.