We are taking a mathematical turn this week with a unit all about numbers—-enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

SENSORY

Time to break out the messy play again—but this time with shaving foam! Place a generous amount of foam on a tray, cookie sheet, or if you are feeling especially adventurous—-on the kitchen table 🙂

 

 

Have your child use their fingers to practice writing numbers in the foam.

 

 

 

 

GROSS MOTOR

This week use dice or playing cards to determine how many of an activity your child does.  For example, roll a dice or pull a card from the deck to see how many jumping jacks, wall pushups, or frog jumps your child does.  Or to determine how many seconds they can stand on one leg or how many times to catch and throw a ball without dropping it.  I have some oversized playing cards and light up large dice that I like to use at school, but you could us regular playing cards or dice, Uno cards that have numbers, put number magnets or strips or paper with numbers written on them in a cup/bag and draw one, or make your own dice out of a cube shaped box if you want to.  Make up your own rules and use activities that your child enjoys.  The fun part is letting the dice or cards decide how many you do.

Online, I found an activity where you tape various pieces of paper on a wall (choose the wall and ball carefully, so that the paint doesn’t get messed up and nothing gets broken) with numbers on them and have the child throw a ball to the requested number.  You could have them draw the number out of a cup as mentioned above and throw the ball to the matching number or call the number out to them verbally.  This could be done in standing, standing on a pillow for a challenge, in tall kneeling or 1/2 kneeling, in bench sitting, supported sitting, or while sitting in a wheelchair.  It could also be done by touching, reaching, or looking at a number to identify or match the number.

Also, you could make number lines out of tape, paper plates, or chalk and have your child move to a requested number.  You could also incorporate addition and subtraction, by having them start on one number and take steps forward and backward and see where they land.  You could also have them crawl while pushing a toy car to a requested number or “numbered parking spot” if they are non-ambulatory.

 

Hopscotch is also a fun game with numbers.  Make a path out of chalk or tape, either a traditional path or create one of your own.  You can play by traditional rules or make up your own.  You could incorporate different movements in the game such as side stepping, walking backwards, bear walking.  Be creative and have fun.

Have a great week!

 

 

 

 

FINE MOTOR

A scavenger hunt is perfect for a numbers themed activity! Below is a list of items to find around the house.

After you count the item, there is a visual motor activity included with each to target a wide variety of skills.

Happy Hunting!!

 

1—backpack: practice opening/closing the zipper.

2—shoes: practice tying shoe laces.

3—pillows: identify the shapes.

4—spoons: scoop water or rice and pour from one spoon to another.

5—toy cars: drive the cars along straight, curved, and zig zag roads.

6—coins: hold out your hand palm down at chin level, stack the coins on your hand.

7—stuffed animals: sort from biggest to smallest.

8—books: stack the books, and then read one of course 🙂

9—crayons: use each color to draw a picture.

10—socks: match the pairs.

 

 

 

LANGUAGE

Because a lot of our students are motivated by food, our language group typically consists of recipes to make.  This week, though, I have a few different things you can do with counting while cooking:

• Count ingredients one by one. Start with a small number (1-3) and help your child count the number of pieces of food, using a finger to point to each piece. Children often don’t realize that each piece only gets counted once, or they try to count too quickly and skip numbers. Help them to keep track by moving the already counted pieces into a new pile.
• Count the total number of ingredients. Help your child count the pieces of food and then say how many pieces there are all together. After they finish counting, ask, “How many?” Move up to larger numbers as they get more comfortable with counting.
• Guess which pile has more ingredients. Make two small piles of food and ask your child to show/tell you which one has MORE in it. Count the number of pieces in each pile to see if they are correct. You can then talk about the pile that has LESS in it.

Here are numbers 1-10 along with cards with dots and animals to count and match to the number.  The number cards can be used as visuals during your cooking activities or you can also use them to help your child count the objects and match them to the number. Here’s the link: Numbers 1-10

 

 

 

LITERACY

We suggest this book from April 2015: I Can Count to 10

 

 

Join us again next time for more fun and home learning—-Group by Group!

 

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