Building Number Sense Through Play in TK and Kindergarten

 

                            Building Number Sense Through Play in TK and Kindergarten

The beginning of the year in TK and Kindergarten is exciting as we explore the world. One crucial skill we focus on is developing our number sense. To make learning fun and engaging, we use play-based activities to help us understand numbers and their relationships.

One of our favorite activities is sorting and counting different animal collections. We gather various animal toys or pictures and sort them into categories, such as farm animals, wild animals, or sea creatures. As we sort, we count the animals in each group, practicing our counting skills and learning to recognize patterns.

Here are a few pictures of our counting collections.

I recommend exploring counting and sorting books to continue building our number sense at home. These books can introduce different counting concepts, such as one-to-one correspondence, counting forwards and backward, and recognizing numbers. They can also include fun activities, like matching numbers to pictures or counting objects in a scene.

Bear Counts by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman is one of our favorite books at the beginning of the year.

One of our new favorites is by author Temperace Meadow South.

By incorporating play into our learning, we can make math more enjoyable and accessible. Remember, the goal is to have fun and build a strong foundation for future learning.

                                                                    Happy counting!