Contents
In a wooden box with a lid:
- 5 flexible number lines 2 with numbers, 2 with
empty squares and 1 with coloured squares
- 6 small number lines 3 with 3 squares and 3
with 5 squares
- 2 x 13 number cards 0 – 12 in blue and red
- 13 dice cards 0 – 12
- 13 flower cards 0 – 12
- 13 tally cards 0 -12
- 12 cards with circles 1 – 12
- 13 cards with balls (split)
- 16 cards with a frog jumping 1,2 or 3 squares
ahead
- 16 cards with a frog jumping 1,2 or 3 squares
back
Target group
pre-school children and remedial teaching
Development objectives
Mathematics and reasoning skills
- learning to count: counting out loud up to 10
(later 20)
- counting from different numbers up to 20 and
counting down from numbers from 2 up to 10
- placing of numbers on the number line, recog-
nition and ordering of symbols for numbers.
- discovering that the symbols, counting,
counting words and amounts are all
interconnected
- matching amounts to symbols
- ordering, comparing and counting amounts
- learning what ‘zero’ means
Towards the end of pre-school, most children
will have built up a good knowledge of how to
calculate.
They understand amounts like: a lot - few,
more - less - equal, big - small, and they use
this knowledge to order actual material things,
including in writing.
They understand that if you dismantle a tower
of five blocks that you still have five blocks
(conservation).
They are able to compare two small amounts
of different objects and express any differences
(more or less) in numbers (correspondence).
They are able to categorise objects or images
using their essential characteristics (classification)
and can rank them from big to small or from a lot
to few (seriation).
They are able to use counting words for counting
up, counting down and counting on from a
particular number: “This is six, now count up from
here”. Finally, the child must be able to count in
a synchronous, abridged and resultative manner.
The latter is the ability to count structured and
unstructured amounts as well as hidden amounts
(that he/she has just been shown).
With
‘Dotty’s number party’,
many children will
have already learned a great deal about counting
and forming amounts.
When they use
‘Frog jumps numbers’
they get to
learn that numbers have a certain fixed order.
Uses
The blank number line
- Lay out the amounts in ascending order
Place the coloured cards with white dots on
the blank number line, each subsequent card
having one more dot. Do it again but this time
in reverse.
- Place the finger cards, the flower cards, the tally
cards, or the dice cards in ascending order on
the blank number line.
The card marked ‘zero’ = an empty square, is
always placed at the start of the number line.
The coloured number line and numbers
- Learning to count to 12 out loud
Take a dice numbered 1 to 3, two counters and
the coloured number line with numbers. Two
players place their counters at the start of the
number line. Take turns to throw the dice,
move your counter along the number line and
count each number out loud as you go along.
For example, if you throw a three, you move
your counter saying one, two, three. Then
it is the other player’s turn. You can also play it
backwards from 12 to 0.
- Combining amounts and numbers
Take the coloured number line and the
coloured cards with white dots. Count the dots
on each card and place them in the correct
order above or below the number line and find
the number that corresponds with the amount.
- Placing the numbers on the number line
Take a set of number cards and place the
numbers on top of the numbers on the
number line, 3 on three etc.
- Taking 1 or 2 hops on the number line
Take a set of number cards and the cards that
have the frog hopping 1 and 2 squares. Shuffle
the frog cards and place them face down on
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