There is something about putting objects in a line or organizing them into groups that is very satisfying. Lining things up also make it easier to practice counting and to understand one-to-one correspondence. That is, to assign a single number to an object. So, if you line up 10 forks side by side then you will point to each from left to right while assigning the corresponding number, “1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10" to each fork in turn.  

 

What You Will Need: 

-items that you can line up (depending on your child’s development, you may need between 10-20 items) 

 

Engaging Your Child: 

Once you have decided what you’re going to use for this math exercise, place them in a single row if you have the space. Do this part together with your child, “Let’s line up all of these little animals and then count them.” One-to-one correspondence is gained with frequent practice. Children will need opportunities to practice counting items and it’s easier to count a row of objects than a cluster. As your child advances in counting, they will be able to do that too. Make sure when children are counting that they point and touch each item with their finger as they count- moving from left to right (reading order). You could do this hand-over-hand to start and as he/she gets the hang of it, let your child do the pointing and counting on their own. Note: try to add more to count once your child has mastered a set, i.e. when your child can consistently count objects from 1-10 you should be increasing the difficulty- try 1-15 next and so on.