This is another way to introduce counting one to one correspondence for young toddlers. Alex has been very confident in counting one to one correspondence up to 12. Now, it is time to extend his skills to recognise new numbers as well as counting one to one up to 20.

Transportation is always fascinates him, so I set up his  dump truck, a set of numbered cards and some pretend wooden logs on a tray. The logs are actually small twigs /branches cut in 2-3cm lengths. We pretend that the dump truck needs to pick up a certain number of logs to bring to the construction site. The number of logs is determined by the number on each card. This get him really motivated to start the activity. He picked up a number card and matched the logs according to its number.

Recommended for children 18 months and over. Educational aspect of this activity:

• Recognise numbers up to 20.
• Learn one to one correspondence up to 20
• Trace the textured number cards for pre-writing skills.
• Introduce concept of volume and sizes to fit different number of small/large logs
• Uses his imagination to play dump truck and construction site.

Materials

• A small toy truck, wagon, etc.
• Wooden twigs / branch around 0.5-1cm in diameter
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 cup salt
• Drops food colouring
• +- ¾ cup water

Instruction

1. Textured Number Cards: Mix together the flour, salt and some water. Add some drop of desired food colouring.
2. If it is too thick, you can add a little water. If it is too runny, add more flour. Make sure that you get the right consistency, you don’t want it too runny as it wouldn’t puff when it dries out.
3. Draw the numbers on some recycled cardboard cutouts and let it dry overnight.
4. Provide the dump truck, a tray and a small basket
5. Sand wooden twigs/branches to ensure no sharp edges and splinters
6. Cut wooden twigs/branches to size