Using cereal or another snack food, your toddler can practice early math skills like counting and one-to-one correspondence, and he can improve fine motor skills.
Learning Area(s): Math; Physical Development
MATERIALS
- Cereal or snack food, such as Goldfish®, mini pretzels, animal crackers, small fruit snacks
- 6-cup muffin tin (or egg carton cut down to 6 cups)
LET'S PLAY
Demonstrate for your child how to place one piece of cereal or snack food into one section of the muffin tin or egg carton. Give the cereal to your child and count with him as he places one piece of cereal in each cup for the remaining cups. Be sure to note the number of cereal pieces that your child places in each cup (otherwise children may count out loud but forget to put any cereal into a cup).Then count the cereal one more time as the child puts them into his mouth! Repeat this game if your child is interested in playing again. Remember to keep this activity fun, and do not be discouraged if your toddler gives up or tries to change the activity. Simply reintroduce it at another time.
The quantity of six is a large number for toddlers, so they may skip numbers when counting or just not remember the next number. As you play this game with your toddler repeatedly over time, he will learn to drop and count the cereal on his own.
TIPS
- Counting aloud with your child as he does this activity will reinforce numbers and counting skills.
- Toddlers may want to grasp whole handfuls of cereal rather than one at a time. See if you can guide your child to try picking up one piece at a time. If he resists this idea, you can help him count how many he put into the muffin cup.
- If your child does not seem to grasp the concept of counting up to six, simplify by only counting up to three.
- For older children, after they have mastered counting out six snack foods and dropping them in the cups, gradually increase the number of snack foods and cups. By the time children go to Kindergarten, they should be able to count up to 10 objects with one-to-one correspondence.