Counting Math Games with Play-Doh and Cheerios | How to Count | Basic Counting Skills for Kids
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How to count? Counting skills are very important for children at the early age when they are still taking the very first steps related to math because it is important that when the kids are moving to complete operations, they should have the counting skills in place first.
This educational video is about practical and interactive ways that would show how to count and help them do that easily. Some of these practical ways are even done without costing any money through tools that are already found at home. In this lesson, these tools include play-doh, spaghetti sticks and cheerios, and off the child could go and start counting.
Playing this game starts with the basic counting skills and this means that you will ask the child to count four different cheerios and place them in the spaghetti stick. Translating the number into objects is important because it shows that kids really understand and link between the written numbers and the amount of objects placed.
Getting a little bit interactive, parents should start a challenging game with their kids and use a dice to play in turn and see who will end up being the winner, the kid or the parent. First, let the kid throw the dice and place the number he/she receives of cheerios in the spaghetti stick, and then let the parent take the turn and do the same, the one who ends up with a bigger number will be the winner.
Using a little bit of basic addition will also help the child to learn math and this would also be done through the same tools. Ask the child to place the number of cheerios that would solve the equation of 1 + 1 and make the numbers bigger if the kids could handle and solve it all. Parents could also insert several equations in the same game, such as asking the child to add 4 to the 2 he/she got the last time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdux-Xn35qE).
Along teaching the kids these initial and basic addition and counting skills, there are some small details in the middle of the way that parents should pay attention to, such as choosing the suitable dice, if the kids are familiar with the numbers then using the dice with written numbers would be a good choice, but if the kids are not yet familiar with all the numbers then using the dice with the dots would be better and they could then count the dots and keep playing.
There are different math games that could teach kids basic counting skills with using play doh or cheerios, and all of them will bring us all to the same point, which is bringing different fun and interactive methods that the kids could enjoy and thus learn faster and easier (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I0FdpAigpU).
The ordinary ways that parents might use in general could become a little bit boring for the kids with time and that's why they should be always updating themselves and using tools that could be scattered all around the house, because that's what homeschooling is all about and that's when they will go for these toys and tools which they already have at home and which the kids love to play with and use in general.
At the end of this lesson, parents could give some treats to their kids if they managed to give the right answers, and since they are playing with cheerios then their treat could be cheerios as well, they could eat the number of cheerios they get as the final answer to their last equation, if they are learning to subtract they could eat the cheerios that should be removed to make the equation correct, and so on (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-YBC4LPOQw).
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In this video, we're going to explore practical interactive ways to show your child how to count,
to demonstrate counting skills and to practice counting skills, because counting skills are
very important at a very young age to ensure that when your child is moving on to complete operations
that they have the counting skills in place first. So we're going to use things that you would find
lying around the house and I'm just going to show you how you can progress through to counting and
So as you can see, we have just got a bit of Play-Doh and a piece of spaghetti to make a
little counting rod. In place of spaghetti, you can use straws or pipe cleaners, anything you like,
and we're going to just use some Cheerios because we like Cheerios, don't we James?
Okay, so we're going to just do some counting. This is also an excellent activity for those
fine motor skills, those actually picking up those small objects and being able to place them
on to something that's quite tricky. So James, let's see, I'm going to ask you to put some
Cheerios and we're going to count as we put them on, okay? Okay. Right, off you go, see if you can
count. One, two, three. Excellent. Then you can progress from that. I mean, spend as much time
as you feel that you need to, or if your child's enjoying it, keep on going with it, but then you
can progress to encouraging those counting skills a little bit more. So this time, James,
I'm going to take those off and we are going to have a competition this time, okay? We're going
to use a dice to progress those counting skills and just make them a little bit, make the activity
a little bit more fun. So this time, James, when you throw the dice, whatever number's on there,
you're going to get your Cheerios and put them on. We're going to see who's going to be the winner
in the end, okay? All right, we're going to have two goes each. All right, okay, so you throw your
dice. Oh, how many are you going to get? Three. This is also a really good opportunity for some
number recognition. If you want to foster number recognition, use a dice with the numbers on it.
If you're not there yet or your child isn't able to recognise the numbers just yet,
then use the dice with the little dots on and then they can actually count. So again, it's using
more counting skills. Okay, is it my turn? Yeah. Double check you've got three. Count them. One,
two, three. Okay, let's see. I've got three too. One, two, three. Right, I'm going to put mine on.
One, two, three. Right, it's your turn. Okay. Oh, how many? One. Okay.
One and three make. One, two, three, four. Four. And as you can see, he's already starting to get
that language. One and three make. I really encourage your child with that. Okay, that's my
turn. Yep. Oh, five. I wonder what you're going to get next time. Let's see. One, two, three,
four, five. Have I got five? Yep. Okay, let's see. One, two, three, four, five. How many have I got
now? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Have I got more than you? Yep. Okay,
let's see. Your turn. What is that? Two. Okay. Mommy, you're winning again. Oh my goodness.
Okay, how many have you got? One, two, three, four, five, six. So as you can see, it's a really
good game. You've got that little bit of competition, but you've also got that constant
counting, going back to counting each time to see how many you have, to see if you're winning or if
you're not. And it's a really good opportunity for those counting skills to progress. If you
do want to take it a little bit further and start to add in some very basic addition, this is also
a very good little resource for that. What you just need to do is give your child the same little
resource, and we're just going to think about adding one more. Again, just very, very basic
counting and very basic starting addition. Okay, so James, this time I want you to show me
what one and one more would be. So can you put one on? Okay. Okay. And can you put on one more?
Okay. So how many have you got now? Two. So one and one more is? Two. Okay, good job. This time
I want you to put three on. Okay. And again, you're actually giving your child that opportunity
to count out the three and make sure that they're using that number to actually put it on their
little rod. One, two, three. I wonder what one more would make if you added one more. Do you
think you could do that? Four. Okay, well let's see if you're going to be right or not. Check.
One, two, three, four. And as you can see, he's already progressing to actually thinking and
visualising that in his head, and he was able to almost predict what number he was going to
have on there, and then he was using his little counting rod to double check. Okay, this time,
James, you've got four. Do you think you could add on two more? Yeah. Okay. It will make six!
You think so? Okay, put them on. And again, you can then take it a little bit further and keep
progressing with your child as you feel necessary. You will see, you will know what your child's
capable of. One, two, three, four, five, six. Lovely. Good boy, you were right. So as you can
see, this is just a lovely, practical, really interactive little way. It doesn't cost any money
to make, and your child, as you can see from James, will really enjoy it. And also, it's enhancing
those fine motor skills. So this is something that can be made so simply and quickly and can
be a lot of fun.
