Friday Folder

Time for Friday Folder! I had a hard time deciding which idea to share this week since it was the first week I really got to put some of the things I found to use. I finally chose counting bags. These are super for young learners and oh so easy to make yourself.

First, I made number cards and laminated them. I did numbers 1-20. Next, I picked some themes. Below is a beaded necklace counting mat. I picked this because I had beads that were similar to use as the counters. I put it all in a pencil pouch and voila! - counting bag ready to go! The child lays out the number cards and draws one. Then, they put that number of items on the counting mat. Simple enough?!

Here's another version of a counting bag - bugs. Pipe cleaners work as legs and antennae for the counters. Some other versions of counting mats I made are a piggy bank with pennies as counters, bag of popcorn and I will pop some popcorn when we do that one for a treat (you could use popcorn kernels instead), and notebook paper with paper strips for the lines. I had a lot of strips of laminated paper leftover from from making the number cards which made great "lines" for paper.


The idea for making counting mats came from http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/counting_bags.html.
There is a vast amount of information on this site, even a complete (and free) curriculum for young ones!

Come back next Friday for more ideas and bring some of your own!