Touchy Numerals

Image from Rhyme Time

Oh, what fun! Bags of GOO and numeral writing rhymes!

Rhyme Time recommends making math lessons (or any lesson) purposeful. I can't agree more. One of her suggestions to teach counting, is to count EVERYTHING, including the stairs you walk up and down with your child.

That is how my daughter learned to count when she was 1 1/2 years old. I was expecting my second child and taking a prenatal exercise class. It was up a long flight of stairs. Twice a week, as we climbed up those stairs, and then later back down, we (well, I) counted out loud, "One, two, three, four, five....."

By the time my son was born, my daughter could count to ten.

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Another suggestion Rhyme Time makes: Count to sixty while your children brush their teeth. Currently, teeth brushing is a real chore for the little voyagers, and brushing time might benefit from a little fun counting activity to distract from the dullness.

For more great ideas, read Rhyme Times complete list of suggestions HERE,

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In the comments, I found a link to Little Giraffes Teaching Ideas. This is where the numeral rhymes used on the cards above can be found. 

Here are rhymes for the first five numerals:

Straight line down
And then we're done.
That's the way
To make a one.

Around and back
On the railroad track.
Two, two,
Two, tow.   

Around a tree,
Around a tree.
That's the way
To make a three.

Down and over,
Down once more.
That's the way
To make a four.  

Straight line down,
Then around.
Hat on top
And five's a clown.

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The original post suggests using glitter paint -- fast, colorful, easy! 

Other ideas, left in the comments, include inexpensive alternatives ways to make GOO:

1. Dollar Store hair gel with a little food coloring. (You could probably add glitter, as well.)

2. Cornstarch and water, cooked to the appropriate GOOiness, then colored with food coloring.

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Finding ways to make counting purposeful in everyday life is pretty easy. Teaching children to write the numerals can be a bit like getting them to brush their teeth. This activity adds two elements of fun to the task -- Rhyming and GOO!