Of all the math skills that children will acquire, counting is one that most children will already be doing before they reach school-age.

Rote counting (or saying numbers in a sequence from memory) is what most children will be able to do, but this does not mean that they can actually determine the amount in a collection.

In order to help our students develop an actual understanding of numbers and how counting relates to real life, we did a hands-on activity with seeds aimed at developing their one-to-one correspondence.

By placing a certain amount of seeds on a diagram (counting as they did so), participants were able to make a connection between the spoken numeral and a concrete amount.

Lacing and weaving activities provide a great educational and developmental experience for preschoolers.

As children grasp the tip of the item that they are lacing with, they are building their pincer grip which is crucial for writing skills.

They also learn patterns and develop hand-eye coordination through the very act of lacing or weaving.

Finally, it is also a lesson in patience as they ever so slowly work their way across the lacing base with their implement.

This activity involved a creative way to practice our lacing skills.

Using branches and toilet paper tubes, we created our own version of Jack’s beanstalk. We weaved the branches into the tubes, and saw our beanstalks come alive!

Small world play occurs when children use miniature items such as toys, found objects, or replicas to act out scenes or ideas from real life, stories, or books.

Small worlds often include sensory elements which add even more depth to the experience and create more opportunities for language stimulation.

For this activity, we created castles out of styrofoam, and then used these castles to act out scenes from Jack and the Beanstalk.

Each castle came with jewels (to symbolize treasure), a plastic toy giant, a plastic toy Jack, and cotton to represent clouds. This activity was open-ended, which means that your little ones were given the freedom to explore and add their own twist to the plot of the story!

With play dough, young children express their ideas through art and make-believe play.

At the same time, they learn symbolic thinking by pretending that the play dough is something else (“That thing with the antlers is a moose”).

For this activity, we created chicken coops, using craft sticks and play dough.

This enabled your little one to connect with the main character of the Little Red Hen!