October 25, 2012

What is a Halloween activity that will help teach my child one-to-one correspondence?

Little Bear has been loving dot markers lately so I thought it would be nice to have a seasonal learning activity that used them. My amazing co-blogger, Cassidy, made up this cute little Halloween do-a-dot counting activity and Little Bear got right to work completing it.

First, Little Bear asked me if he could use an orange dot marker. We don’t have one so I told him that we don’t have one. He was a little disappointed since the circles aren’t just circles, but are Jack-o-Lanterns. So, I told him we could try dotting the circle with a yellow dot marker first and then dot it again with a red dot marker. I did not think this would work because our red dot marker lets out a lot more paint than our yellow dot marker. Unfortunately, I was right. The color mixing of the dot markers did not work. We used the Walmart Paint Dab Markers. If any of you have tried different dot markers and have successfully color mixed, I would love to hear about it.

Once we got past the whole no orange dot marker thing, Little Bear was ready to start counting. He dotted the first group of pumpkins and counted each one out loud as he dotted them. Once he knew how many pumpkins were in that first group, he wrote the correct number in the little box next to them.

Little Bear’s preschool table has the numbers written on the side, so if he ever needed help remembering what a number looked like, I just told him to look at his table. This turned out to be very helpful.

This Halloween dot marker counting activity was really awesome because it gave Little Bear practice writing numbers and it helped solidify the concept of one-to-one correspondence. It was much easier for Little Bear to count each object once and only once because he could see if he had counted it or not. Little Bear has been pretty good at counting for several months now, but this dot marker activity helped him to understand why each number should be counted once and only once. Plus, since the dot markers were involved, it was extra fun!

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me