Fireman Sam Number Rescue

In preparation for preschool we played a game with magnetic numbers and fireman Sam with a helicopter and helipad.

I placed the one set of numbers in order on the chalkboard for him to match up to.

He had to identify the number and collect it from the helipad and place it in the harness then take it to the chalkboard to match it up to.

He enjoyed playing and was pleased he matched up the numbers. He still doesn't recognise all the numbers but definitely made progress.

Zac 2.11

Number Bonds :10

My son's homework inspire us to play number bond games.

 Abacus number bonds.

He had his rainbow poster for support.

The top line was 0-10 and then 1-9 and so on. I thought he would count each one but he soon realised a pattern and place 1 then 2 then 3 to the left.

I recorded him explaining this process and he was very impressed with himself.

Melissa and Doug number jigsaw dominoes. 

First he had to match the number to the picture. Then he arranged them into number bonds. The only problem is number five as there is only one.

Number flash cards 

He really liked cards at the moment so he liked this one. Some of them have written numbers on so we matched them too. He was pleasantly surprised how successful he was. ( me too)

Hopefully the activities with numbers displayed will help him learn which way to write the numbers. 

I think we are going to try with Lego next time .

Dylan 5.8

Indoor bean bag game

There are twelve plates that have numbers upto 12 on.

First we sequenced them and then we tossed on a said number then they jumped , hopped or stepped on them.

Quick indoor activity on a rainy day.

Zac 2.9 Dylan 5.6

Dragon puppet neighbourhood watch

The puppet dragons were taken out for a Tour of the neighbourhood.

We took a squirting water bottle to pretend it was fire. They had to squirt letters, numbers, shapes and objects.

M

Dylan even spotted 3D shapes like a cone and cylinder .

Then a role play with a knight on a 'castle' .

The boys loved this and didn't want to go on for dinner . 

Dylan 5.5 and Zac 2.9

Magnet Tadpoles

We am continued out tadpole topic using magnets. 

They are idea as they are comprised of a ball and a tube magnet. so a head and a body .

We matched colours, made various length tadpoles and then counted how many tubes we added and sequenced them.

We many as many tadpole as we could and role played with them. He quickly worked out that the two like poles would repel and he needed to change the end to attract.

We also used it as a measuring tool to measure the tadpole vase.

Lovely preschool STEM activity. 

Zac 2.9 enjoyed the magnets

Bear Pegging

 

Both my sons have a blanket bear that they sleep with its their comforter. Zac decided to use my pegs to decorate him.

I encouraged him to count and indicate what colour he was putting on.
I though this was fantastic and I am sure this activity would apply to many other cuddly toys.
Zac also finds it amusing sticking them on my clothes.

Zac 2.1

A-Z Math: Peg boat balance

This activity was not really planned, I had the new coloured pegs in the boat dish ready to take outside and my son started playing with them.

So I told him to peg it onto the boat.

He soon realised that you need to put pegs on both sides to balance the boat.

He was very focused and stopped when he could fit anymore on.

He turned it over and said spider, Dylan removed extra pegs so it had eight legs like a spider.


This was good practise of fine motor skills, numeracy counting and colours.

To extend further for a pre-schooler you could:-
give them a sequence to follow
ask them to identify a patter in the colours.
ask them to predict if it will balance or tip.

Zac 2.1
Dylan 4.10

Coloured Peg and Pipe Cleaner Match up

I was desperate for new pegs and saw these in the shop they are multi-coloured ones.I knew that they wouldn't end up on my washing line as the kids loved them.

This morning we had the pipe cleaners out doing a threading activity. Then I saw that we had a few colours that matched to the pegs and here we have the next activity.

I was quite impressed how quickly Zac (2.1) matched the colours and that he said the right colours.

Then I thought how can I extend this for a four year old....

He had to make a chain with the pipe cleaners using pegs to hold them together. (I had to twist the pipe cleaners in the end).

He made a big chain that he used to show shapes like a circle. We didn't manage to mage letters or numbers but this is a possibility for next time.




Dylan 4.9
Zac 2.1

Pipe cleaners and beads play

Looking back at when I tried this activity with my four year old he was a little older than my 2.1 year old.
Dylan (4) at the time was very focused and vocal during the activity telling me what colours he was using. Zac just got on with it but told me the colours he wanted when probed.

 

 

I didn't manage to get any pics of Zac with the colander as Dylan started using it to make a super hero hat with lasers.

Zac is more prone to putting things in his mouth than Dylan so I had to watch his very closely. He quickly got fed up and threw the beads.

What will I try next...?
Linking in patterns
Get him to match one I have done
Count them
Match colour bead to the pipe cleaner



Zac 2.1


Here is the blog from when I did it in 2013 with Dylan.

http://littlebrightsparks.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/threading-pipe-cleaners-and-beads.html