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Tagged with 'math'

Learning In A Winter WonderlandLearning In A Winter Wonderland

Welcome to Camp Learning Resources

Keep the learning going all summer long with our free activities at Camp Learning Resources!

Our Latest Blogs

DIY Craft Dough Penguins!

Keep kids entertained this winter with these adorable penguin friends. From their waddle to their formal attire, they are undoubtedly entertaining to observe and explore. Create your own little penguins with this simple, non-toxic dough. Add Learning Resources’ Penguins on Ice to the mix for added activities and learning fun!

For this cute penguin craft, you will need:

  • Room temperature butter
  • Light corn syrup
  • Powdered sugar
  • Salt
  • Food coloring of your choice
  • Feel free to add sprinkles for the eyes or their cold-weather accessories
  • Roll out some wax paper on a flat surface to make the dough.
  • Add one teaspoon of butter to a bowl. This is no time to substitute – you will need the fat from the butter to make the dough come together. Margarine will not work.
  • Add one tablespoon of light corn syrup. Not only will the corn syrup provide moisture, but it will also prevent the crystallization of the powdered sugar you will add in a few steps.
  • Add 1/8 teaspoon of salt.
  • Using a fork, mash the salt, corn syrup, and butter together.

 

  • Next, measure out a cup of powdered sugar. Carefully add the sugar to the mixture, spoonful by spoonful, mixing it the entire time you go.
  • Grab the dough out of the bowl and begin to knead it with your hands. Form it into a ball.
  • Separate the dough into two parts. One part will remain white, while the other will get the food coloring treatment.
  • Separate one of the halves again. You can use any food coloring you like for the flippers and head. Black or blue works perfectly. Then choose any color for the penguins’ accessories. Red was used here
  • A drop of food coloring will go a long way with this dough. Work it through. Once you’ve completed one color, make sure you wash your hands for the next color!
  • Then, squeeze a little dough off to make a beak with some orange food coloring. No orange? What two colors should you combine to make the shade?
  • Roll the white dough into a ball for the penguin’s body. Then roll the black or blue dough into a smaller shape for its head.
  • Fashion some flippers and a beak, and perhaps use sprinkles for the penguin’s eyes.
  • This dough can get soft fast, so after we created our little black-and-white friends, we stuck them in the refrigerator. The kids figured the penguins felt pretty at home in the cold!
  • All this penguin talk made them want to break out Penguins on Ice, one of their favorite math games from Learning Resources.
  • This cool game helps the kids understand math patterns and sorting. There are little icebergs that the penguins stand on, which can form grids in groups of ten.
  • The kids challenge each other by lining up the penguins in order. Taking away penguins or adding them reinforces basic math skills. Hours of fun!

Happy winter! Stay warm!

DIY Craft Dough Penguins!

Keep kids entertained this winter with these adorable penguin friends. From their waddle to their formal attire, they are undoubtedly entertaining to observe and explore. Create your own little penguins with this simple, non-toxic dough. Add Learning Resources’ Penguins on Ice to the mix for added activities and learning fun!

For this cute penguin craft, you will need:

  • Room temperature butter
  • Light corn syrup
  • Powdered sugar
  • Salt
  • Food coloring of your choice
  • Feel free to add sprinkles for the eyes or their cold-weather accessories
  • Roll out some wax paper on a flat surface to make the dough.
  • Add one teaspoon of butter to a bowl. This is no time to substitute – you will need the fat from the butter to make the dough come together. Margarine will not work.
  • Add one tablespoon of light corn syrup. Not only will the corn syrup provide moisture, but it will also prevent the crystallization of the powdered sugar you will add in a few steps.
  • Add 1/8 teaspoon of salt.
  • Using a fork, mash the salt, corn syrup, and butter together.

 

  • Next, measure out a cup of powdered sugar. Carefully add the sugar to the mixture, spoonful by spoonful, mixing it the entire time you go.
  • Grab the dough out of the bowl and begin to knead it with your hands. Form it into a ball.
  • Separate the dough into two parts. One part will remain white, while the other will get the food coloring treatment.
  • Separate one of the halves again. You can use any food coloring you like for the flippers and head. Black or blue works perfectly. Then choose any color for the penguins’ accessories. Red was used here
  • A drop of food coloring will go a long way with this dough. Work it through. Once you’ve completed one color, make sure you wash your hands for the next color!
  • Then, squeeze a little dough off to make a beak with some orange food coloring. No orange? What two colors should you combine to make the shade?
  • Roll the white dough into a ball for the penguin’s body. Then roll the black or blue dough into a smaller shape for its head.
  • Fashion some flippers and a beak, and perhaps use sprinkles for the penguin’s eyes.
  • This dough can get soft fast, so after we created our little black-and-white friends, we stuck them in the refrigerator. The kids figured the penguins felt pretty at home in the cold!
  • All this penguin talk made them want to break out Penguins on Ice, one of their favorite math games from Learning Resources.
  • This cool game helps the kids understand math patterns and sorting. There are little icebergs that the penguins stand on, which can form grids in groups of ten.
  • The kids challenge each other by lining up the penguins in order. Taking away penguins or adding them reinforces basic math skills. Hours of fun!

Happy winter! Stay warm!

 READ MORE

Holiday Tinker Box

There are so many fun new materials for little hands to explore at this time of year. One of my favorite quick-to-set-up activities is to provide my preschooler with a selection of festive loose parts, a few containers or cups, and some Learning Resources, Fine Motor Tools. The freedom to explore in her way always inspires so much creative play.

Materials needed:

The Set-Up

This couldn’t be any easier to set up; simply put the materials and fine motor tools in the container! I chose to color code the loose parts and containers as an added sorting element to the tinker box. It is worth noting that, of course, if your little one still mouths items, then avoid any small loose parts in your tinker box as they could be a choking hazard. 

How the Activity Works

Tinker boxes or trays are simply an open-ended selection of materials that encourage your child to experiment and explore. There is no expected outcome or a particular way to play with the materials. Instead, the focus is more on your child having the opportunity to use each material however they wish. The really interesting thing is to see how your child combines the materials and uses them to drive their play.

When my 3-year-old opened the box, she gave the cutest little gasp. She was so excited to get her hands on all these loose parts without any restrictions.

Straight away, she set up some of the cups and started transferring materials. Moving the bells from one place to another may not seem like learning, but so many skills are being developed here.

She was working on her fine motor skills each time she moved a bell and used her senses to explore the materials and then develop a vocabulary to express what she was experiencing.

Adding fine motor tools to a setup like this helps extend the play by adding a different element of challenge. My little one experimented with if she could pick up the various loose parts with each tool. This offered an opportunity for some problem-solving. 

For example, the presents were too big to fit inside the Squeezy Tweezers, so she had to switch to using the Jumbo Tweezers. She also realized after a while that she could fit more than one bell inside the Squeezy Tweezers, which made filling the cups with bells much faster!

Due to the fact that the set contained only three colors- red, green, and gold, there was lots of focused color sorting. This led in turn to an excellent opportunity to work on some counting skills.

As she filled the cupcake liners and cups, she would count the items in. She also then spent time comparing the group sizes of each color. This is such a great early numeracy link as phrases like bigger and smaller and more than and less than were often used.

Have you ever tried using a tinker box with your child? It’s so fascinating to see how they use the materials and combine them with their imaginative play ideas. Using Learning Resources fine motor tools is a great way to extend the play and add an extra challenge to transferring the materials. So much open-ended fun!

Holiday Tinker Box

There are so many fun new materials for little hands to explore at this time of year. One of my favorite quick-to-set-up activities is to provide my preschooler with a selection of festive loose parts, a few containers or cups, and some Learning Resources, Fine Motor Tools. The freedom to explore in her way always inspires so much creative play.

Materials needed:

The Set-Up

This couldn’t be any easier to set up; simply put the materials and fine motor tools in the container! I chose to color code the loose parts and containers as an added sorting element to the tinker box. It is worth noting that, of course, if your little one still mouths items, then avoid any small loose parts in your tinker box as they could be a choking hazard. 

How the Activity Works

Tinker boxes or trays are simply an open-ended selection of materials that encourage your child to experiment and explore. There is no expected outcome or a particular way to play with the materials. Instead, the focus is more on your child having the opportunity to use each material however they wish. The really interesting thing is to see how your child combines the materials and uses them to drive their play.

When my 3-year-old opened the box, she gave the cutest little gasp. She was so excited to get her hands on all these loose parts without any restrictions.

Straight away, she set up some of the cups and started transferring materials. Moving the bells from one place to another may not seem like learning, but so many skills are being developed here.

She was working on her fine motor skills each time she moved a bell and used her senses to explore the materials and then develop a vocabulary to express what she was experiencing.

Adding fine motor tools to a setup like this helps extend the play by adding a different element of challenge. My little one experimented with if she could pick up the various loose parts with each tool. This offered an opportunity for some problem-solving. 

For example, the presents were too big to fit inside the Squeezy Tweezers, so she had to switch to using the Jumbo Tweezers. She also realized after a while that she could fit more than one bell inside the Squeezy Tweezers, which made filling the cups with bells much faster!

Due to the fact that the set contained only three colors- red, green, and gold, there was lots of focused color sorting. This led in turn to an excellent opportunity to work on some counting skills.

As she filled the cupcake liners and cups, she would count the items in. She also then spent time comparing the group sizes of each color. This is such a great early numeracy link as phrases like bigger and smaller and more than and less than were often used.

Have you ever tried using a tinker box with your child? It’s so fascinating to see how they use the materials and combine them with their imaginative play ideas. Using Learning Resources fine motor tools is a great way to extend the play and add an extra challenge to transferring the materials. So much open-ended fun!

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Color by Number Winter Scene Printable
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Holiday Mathlink® Cube Measuring

Use Mathlink® Cubes to measure the height of the Holiday items!

Purchase Mathlink Cubes

Holiday Mathlink® Cube Measuring

Use Mathlink® Cubes to measure the height of the Holiday items!

Purchase Mathlink Cubes

 READ MORE
Holiday Printables Pack!
READ MORE

As Seen on Reels: Christmas Tree Color Sorting!

Christmas Tree Color Sorting! With this festive holiday activity, reinforce sorting and math concepts with your toddler or preschooler using colorful pom poms. Here's what you'll need:

Encourage your child to pick up a pom-pom ornament and decide what bowl it should go in. Continue sorting until all the pom-poms have been used! This is a great activity to work on fine motor skills, color recognition, counting, and so much more.

Benefits of using fine motor tools:

Handy Scoopers: These unique tools are a handy way to build the muscles needed for scissor cutting! Tools feature translucent scoops and easy-to-grip handles for developing fine motor skills. Holes in the scoops allow for catch-and-release fun during water play.

Build up little hand muscles: Helps develop eye-hand coordination by grabbing small manipulatives or snacks with the Handy Scoopers.

Sensory Integration: Use the Handy Scoopers in a sandbox or water table to discover how the different substances sift through the holes of the Handy Scoopers.

Gator Grabber Tweezers: Sized for little hands and great for developing the pincer grasp! Working on fine motor skills is fun when children get to use an Alligator to grip objects.

Fine Motor: As students pick up objects with the tweezers, they are working on motor planning and eye-hand coordination (visual-motor integration) and refining the manual skills needed for writing, drawing, and daily living.

Sensory Integration: Students who are hypersensitive to textures can participate in tactile play using tweezers to hold and move objects.

Self-Help: Incorporate puppet-like conversations to enhance communication and social interactions. Gator (tweezers) can speak to or try to gobble up the other person, increasing direct contact with another

As Seen on Reels: Christmas Tree Color Sorting!

Christmas Tree Color Sorting! With this festive holiday activity, reinforce sorting and math concepts with your toddler or preschooler using colorful pom poms. Here's what you'll need:

Encourage your child to pick up a pom-pom ornament and decide what bowl it should go in. Continue sorting until all the pom-poms have been used! This is a great activity to work on fine motor skills, color recognition, counting, and so much more.

Benefits of using fine motor tools:

Handy Scoopers: These unique tools are a handy way to build the muscles needed for scissor cutting! Tools feature translucent scoops and easy-to-grip handles for developing fine motor skills. Holes in the scoops allow for catch-and-release fun during water play.

Build up little hand muscles: Helps develop eye-hand coordination by grabbing small manipulatives or snacks with the Handy Scoopers.

Sensory Integration: Use the Handy Scoopers in a sandbox or water table to discover how the different substances sift through the holes of the Handy Scoopers.

Gator Grabber Tweezers: Sized for little hands and great for developing the pincer grasp! Working on fine motor skills is fun when children get to use an Alligator to grip objects.

Fine Motor: As students pick up objects with the tweezers, they are working on motor planning and eye-hand coordination (visual-motor integration) and refining the manual skills needed for writing, drawing, and daily living.

Sensory Integration: Students who are hypersensitive to textures can participate in tactile play using tweezers to hold and move objects.

Self-Help: Incorporate puppet-like conversations to enhance communication and social interactions. Gator (tweezers) can speak to or try to gobble up the other person, increasing direct contact with another

 READ MORE
Wise Owl Math Printable!

Wise Owl Math Printable!

Sharpen your counting and money skills with our Wise Owl Teaching Bank! Practicing math helps develop critical thinking skills at an early age.
This activity also introduces the idea of using your money in different ways. Talk to your kids about when it is appropriate to save, spend, or share their money! Early financial concepts will help your little ones understand the value of money! Click here to get your free printable!

Wise Owl Math Printable!
Wise Owl Math Printable!

Sharpen your counting and money skills with our Wise Owl Teaching Bank! Practicing math helps develop critical thinking skills at an early age.
This activity also introduces the idea of using your money in different ways. Talk to your kids about when it is appropriate to save, spend, or share their money! Early financial concepts will help your little ones understand the value of money! Click here to get your free printable!

 READ MORE
Image of product packaging

Skill Builders! Hands-on Learning for Kindergarteners

Skill Builders! Hands-on Learning for Kindergarteners

Watching my son go through Kindergarten several years ago, I learned about teaching fundamental reading, writing, and math concepts. I remember being surprised at the sheer amount of repetition, but on reflection, that makes sense as a means of helping children to build lasting and robust learning foundations. As learning topics are taught for long periods at the Kindergarten age, it can be helpful for parents and teachers to have a variety of resources to support reading, writing, and Math learning. We were able to have a closer look at the Learning Resources® Kindergarten Skill Builders! Reading, Writing, and Math Sets.

Building Readers

The Skill Builders! Kindergarten Reading Set encourages children to learn through quick and fun hands-on activities. The accompanying activity guide explains a range of ideas, but the materials included can be used in any way you wish. The set includes lowercase letter tiles, letter dice and word ending dice, letter frame, sight word flip cards, sight word picture, sentence cards, and a selection of paper worksheets.

The letter frame was the focal point of all three activities we did with this set. My son chose which combination of materials to use, and for the first activity, he wanted to use the sight word sentence and picture cards, the letter tiles, and the letter frame. He liked the idea of choosing a sight word card, reading the word, and then recreating it on the letter frame. As he added each letter, he told me the name and the sound it made, followed by how to blend the sounds. He liked getting to build the letter with the tiles physically, which was good for his fine motor skills. After making the sight word, he flipped over the card and read out the sentence.

My son's second activity was to use the sight word flip cards. He thought it was pretty neat that he could flip through so many words; we even used them for a fun 60-second flip and shout-out sight word challenge which he thought was fun. We then used them along with the letter tiles and letter frame to build the words as he flipped through the cards. I added an extra challenge for him by telling him a complete sentence with the sight word in it.

The final way we enjoyed this set was to use the foam letter and word ending dice to create words. My son would roll the two dice and then say the word before building it on the letter frame with the letter tiles. He liked the spontaneity of this activity.

Building Writers

The Skill Builders! Kindergarten Writing Set lends itself well to actually 'building' letters, which was incredibly engaging for my son. The set includes mini letter construction pieces and corresponding cards, a write-and-wipe board, a writing prompt spinner, a Learn to Write! dry erase book and a set of Learning Resources Tri-Grip Tongs. The tongs may not seem like the most obvious item to include, but this fine motor tool is specifically designed to help small hand muscles to strengthen ready for writing. Both my kids love using them in sensory bins and for sorting activities. A detailed activity guide is also included.

My son couldn't wait to use the small construction pieces to build letters from the cards. It is really helpful how each card shows the pieces needed and how to build the upper and lowercase letters. The pieces snap together easily and are good quality. 

As he built the letters, I asked him to tell me the letter's name and what sound it makes. My daughter, who is in preschool, also enjoyed using these pieces. She liked using the write-and-wipe board, so I extended the activity by letting her also write the upper and lowercase letters that she had built on the board.

My preschooler then discovered that there was an entire dry-erase workbook. She loved going through the pages and forming the letters with a dry-erase pen. She would carefully trace each letter and then did a great job writing them by herself. I was impressed with how many different aspects of writing the book covered. She enjoyed tracing and drawing shapes, as well as numbers. Great for building fine motor skills, numeracy, literacy knowledge, and vocabulary development.

Building Mathematicians

The Skill Builders! Kindergarten Math Set comes with a solid selection of manipulatives and learning materials. The set includes two colors of MathLink® Cubes, two-sided counters, ten frames, a cardboard 100 board, paper worksheets, two foam dice, a spinner, and a selection of challenge cards using the materials included in the set.

We decided to use the 100 board for a fun board game. We took turns to roll the two foam dice, adding up the numbers and moving our counter that many spaces forward. It was a race to get to the end of the board, and both my kids loved the simplicity and excitement of this game. It was good for addition and counting skills and helping younger children navigate the tricky concepts of taking turns and winning/losing.

When my son was in Kindergarten and First Grade, ten frames were a big part of his learning. He enjoyed using the two-sided counters and challenge cards to complete addition problems on the ten frames provided. A good way to extend this activity would be to provide a pencil and paper so that your Kindergartener can write out the sum and answer, which will help with number formation.

Our final activity was to use the link cubes. As I mentioned, both my kids love to build, so they were excited to explore numeracy concepts using the MathLink Cubes. They enjoyed using the challenge cards to build and complete patterns and then making up their patterns for each other to complete. The cubes are perfect for helping to develop those all-important fine motor skills.

I'm looking forward to continuing to explore these sets with both my children. I like how varied the materials and activities are, as well as the fact that you can easily adjust the activity ideas to suit your child's needs.

Writer's Bio

Lucy Baker is a Mom of two (4 & 8 years old) passionate about creative play and hands-on learning. She firmly believes in providing children with the opportunity to learn through play and being part of their play journey as a parent. See more of her creative play ideas and process art projects on Instagram @findthelittlemind, and over on her blog, Find the Little Mind.

Image of product packaging
Skill Builders! Hands-on Learning for Kindergarteners

Skill Builders! Hands-on Learning for Kindergarteners

Watching my son go through Kindergarten several years ago, I learned about teaching fundamental reading, writing, and math concepts. I remember being surprised at the sheer amount of repetition, but on reflection, that makes sense as a means of helping children to build lasting and robust learning foundations. As learning topics are taught for long periods at the Kindergarten age, it can be helpful for parents and teachers to have a variety of resources to support reading, writing, and Math learning. We were able to have a closer look at the Learning Resources® Kindergarten Skill Builders! Reading, Writing, and Math Sets.

Building Readers

The Skill Builders! Kindergarten Reading Set encourages children to learn through quick and fun hands-on activities. The accompanying activity guide explains a range of ideas, but the materials included can be used in any way you wish. The set includes lowercase letter tiles, letter dice and word ending dice, letter frame, sight word flip cards, sight word picture, sentence cards, and a selection of paper worksheets.

The letter frame was the focal point of all three activities we did with this set. My son chose which combination of materials to use, and for the first activity, he wanted to use the sight word sentence and picture cards, the letter tiles, and the letter frame. He liked the idea of choosing a sight word card, reading the word, and then recreating it on the letter frame. As he added each letter, he told me the name and the sound it made, followed by how to blend the sounds. He liked getting to build the letter with the tiles physically, which was good for his fine motor skills. After making the sight word, he flipped over the card and read out the sentence.

My son's second activity was to use the sight word flip cards. He thought it was pretty neat that he could flip through so many words; we even used them for a fun 60-second flip and shout-out sight word challenge which he thought was fun. We then used them along with the letter tiles and letter frame to build the words as he flipped through the cards. I added an extra challenge for him by telling him a complete sentence with the sight word in it.

The final way we enjoyed this set was to use the foam letter and word ending dice to create words. My son would roll the two dice and then say the word before building it on the letter frame with the letter tiles. He liked the spontaneity of this activity.

Building Writers

The Skill Builders! Kindergarten Writing Set lends itself well to actually 'building' letters, which was incredibly engaging for my son. The set includes mini letter construction pieces and corresponding cards, a write-and-wipe board, a writing prompt spinner, a Learn to Write! dry erase book and a set of Learning Resources Tri-Grip Tongs. The tongs may not seem like the most obvious item to include, but this fine motor tool is specifically designed to help small hand muscles to strengthen ready for writing. Both my kids love using them in sensory bins and for sorting activities. A detailed activity guide is also included.

My son couldn't wait to use the small construction pieces to build letters from the cards. It is really helpful how each card shows the pieces needed and how to build the upper and lowercase letters. The pieces snap together easily and are good quality. 

As he built the letters, I asked him to tell me the letter's name and what sound it makes. My daughter, who is in preschool, also enjoyed using these pieces. She liked using the write-and-wipe board, so I extended the activity by letting her also write the upper and lowercase letters that she had built on the board.

My preschooler then discovered that there was an entire dry-erase workbook. She loved going through the pages and forming the letters with a dry-erase pen. She would carefully trace each letter and then did a great job writing them by herself. I was impressed with how many different aspects of writing the book covered. She enjoyed tracing and drawing shapes, as well as numbers. Great for building fine motor skills, numeracy, literacy knowledge, and vocabulary development.

Building Mathematicians

The Skill Builders! Kindergarten Math Set comes with a solid selection of manipulatives and learning materials. The set includes two colors of MathLink® Cubes, two-sided counters, ten frames, a cardboard 100 board, paper worksheets, two foam dice, a spinner, and a selection of challenge cards using the materials included in the set.

We decided to use the 100 board for a fun board game. We took turns to roll the two foam dice, adding up the numbers and moving our counter that many spaces forward. It was a race to get to the end of the board, and both my kids loved the simplicity and excitement of this game. It was good for addition and counting skills and helping younger children navigate the tricky concepts of taking turns and winning/losing.

When my son was in Kindergarten and First Grade, ten frames were a big part of his learning. He enjoyed using the two-sided counters and challenge cards to complete addition problems on the ten frames provided. A good way to extend this activity would be to provide a pencil and paper so that your Kindergartener can write out the sum and answer, which will help with number formation.

Our final activity was to use the link cubes. As I mentioned, both my kids love to build, so they were excited to explore numeracy concepts using the MathLink Cubes. They enjoyed using the challenge cards to build and complete patterns and then making up their patterns for each other to complete. The cubes are perfect for helping to develop those all-important fine motor skills.

I'm looking forward to continuing to explore these sets with both my children. I like how varied the materials and activities are, as well as the fact that you can easily adjust the activity ideas to suit your child's needs.

Writer's Bio

Lucy Baker is a Mom of two (4 & 8 years old) passionate about creative play and hands-on learning. She firmly believes in providing children with the opportunity to learn through play and being part of their play journey as a parent. See more of her creative play ideas and process art projects on Instagram @findthelittlemind, and over on her blog, Find the Little Mind.

 READ MORE
Skill Builders Packaging

Skill Builders! Number Fun for Preschoolers

I am currently in the fun position of being a Preschool teacher and being Mom to a preschooler. It is honestly such a magical stage of childhood, and I love how much playful learning happens daily. I am always on the lookout for engaging new materials with my daughter and preschool class, so I was excited to test out Learning Resources® Preschool Letters and Numbers Skill Builders! Sets. In the second blog of this mini-series, we will turn our attention to the Numbers Set.

As I mentioned in the first blog, learning for preschoolers should be as hands-on and fun as possible. It is important to capture their engagement and keep those little hands busy. The Skill Builders! Preschool Numbers Set includes durable plastic numbers and shapes, foam color and number dice, colored ocean counters, number and picture cards, and a selection of paper activity sheets. As with all Learning Resources products, there is also a brilliant activity guide full of enriching activity ideas for your preschooler.


I let my four-year-old pick out the materials she liked the look off, and then we set up a little number tracing and matching activity. She chose one number card at a time and then traced the number with her finger after saying it aloud. She had to find the correct plastic number and place it next to the number card. The final step was to flip over the number card to see the objects and count them. So many excellent numeracy and literacy skills were at work here!


Next, up my preschooler decided that she wanted to explore the shape pieces. We placed the shape cards on one side of the table and the plastic shapes on the other. She chose a plastic shape, and I asked her to name it if she could. She then tried to find the matching shape card, telling me what the picture was of on the shape card. We worked together to figure out the names of some of the more difficult shapes, and we also counted how many sides the shapes had. A really fun extension of this activity was when my daughter announced that she wanted us to go on a shape hunt around the house. We challenged ourselves to find two examples of each plastic shape in our home for each plastic shape. It was lots of fun!

We finished our number session with a game of 'ocean counter collections' (at least that's what my four-year-old called it?!?). We took turns to roll the foam color dice, and then we had to pick out an ocean counter of that color. We kept taking it in turns, building our ocean collection and counting as we went. If your child wanted to make the game more challenging, you could add the foam number dice for some number recognition and vocabulary.


There are plenty more ways you can play with this set. My preschooler particularly enjoyed the large plastic numbers and making games using foam dice and ocean counters. The vibrant colors are such a fun addition!


Writer's Bio

Lucy Baker is a Mom of two (4 & 8 years old) passionate about creative play and hands-on learning. She firmly believes in providing children with the opportunity to learn through play and being part of their play journey as a parent. See more of her creative play ideas and process art projects on Instagram @findthelittlemind, and over on her blog, Find the Little Mind.

Skill Builders Packaging
Skill Builders! Number Fun for Preschoolers

I am currently in the fun position of being a Preschool teacher and being Mom to a preschooler. It is honestly such a magical stage of childhood, and I love how much playful learning happens daily. I am always on the lookout for engaging new materials with my daughter and preschool class, so I was excited to test out Learning Resources® Preschool Letters and Numbers Skill Builders! Sets. In the second blog of this mini-series, we will turn our attention to the Numbers Set.

As I mentioned in the first blog, learning for preschoolers should be as hands-on and fun as possible. It is important to capture their engagement and keep those little hands busy. The Skill Builders! Preschool Numbers Set includes durable plastic numbers and shapes, foam color and number dice, colored ocean counters, number and picture cards, and a selection of paper activity sheets. As with all Learning Resources products, there is also a brilliant activity guide full of enriching activity ideas for your preschooler.


I let my four-year-old pick out the materials she liked the look off, and then we set up a little number tracing and matching activity. She chose one number card at a time and then traced the number with her finger after saying it aloud. She had to find the correct plastic number and place it next to the number card. The final step was to flip over the number card to see the objects and count them. So many excellent numeracy and literacy skills were at work here!


Next, up my preschooler decided that she wanted to explore the shape pieces. We placed the shape cards on one side of the table and the plastic shapes on the other. She chose a plastic shape, and I asked her to name it if she could. She then tried to find the matching shape card, telling me what the picture was of on the shape card. We worked together to figure out the names of some of the more difficult shapes, and we also counted how many sides the shapes had. A really fun extension of this activity was when my daughter announced that she wanted us to go on a shape hunt around the house. We challenged ourselves to find two examples of each plastic shape in our home for each plastic shape. It was lots of fun!

We finished our number session with a game of 'ocean counter collections' (at least that's what my four-year-old called it?!?). We took turns to roll the foam color dice, and then we had to pick out an ocean counter of that color. We kept taking it in turns, building our ocean collection and counting as we went. If your child wanted to make the game more challenging, you could add the foam number dice for some number recognition and vocabulary.


There are plenty more ways you can play with this set. My preschooler particularly enjoyed the large plastic numbers and making games using foam dice and ocean counters. The vibrant colors are such a fun addition!


Writer's Bio

Lucy Baker is a Mom of two (4 & 8 years old) passionate about creative play and hands-on learning. She firmly believes in providing children with the opportunity to learn through play and being part of their play journey as a parent. See more of her creative play ideas and process art projects on Instagram @findthelittlemind, and over on her blog, Find the Little Mind.

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