Are you ever looking for an activity for that is a good fit for multiple age levels? I was always looking for ideas when my oldest 2 were little. I needed something on the more challenging side for my then 5 year-old, but something that could also be a good fit for my son who was 3. And honestly, who am I kidding? My youngest always wanted in on the action too! If this reminds you of your life, you need to introduce our egg cracking counting activity to your kids.
Practice counting and strengthen fine motor skills and keep all of your kids busy! My preschooler and my 2 in elementary school all cracked eggs with the hole punch this week. Check out the different ways to play for different ages below!
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Egg Cracking Counting Activity
Putting together this activity won’t take long at all! Just gather the following supplies:
- cardstock or construction paper
- marker
- scissors
- hole punch
Simply cut out oval (egg) shapes from the paper. I like to use heavier paper like cardstock or construction paper with little ones while hole punching. The heavier paper is sturdier and less likely to fold over or bend while little hands are holding it.
After you have cut enough egg shapes, take a marker and write different numbers on the paper eggs. The numbers chosen will depend on your child’s skill level. You can repeat numbers to reinforce number recognition practice too!
It’s time to crack those eggs! The object of the activity is to punch the correct number of holes on to each egg!
To practice counting accurately, help your child at first. Punch the hole and count. Punch the hole and count. Counting in a rhythm helps keep the one to one correspondence accurate.
Other Ways to Play!
For younger preschoolers (maybe even toddlers with strong hand muscles!) who do not correctly identify their numbers yet, you can help! Identify the number and have your child count until she reaches the number. Then have your child punch the same number of holes in the paper egg while counting out loud.
Or do the activity backwards! Have your child punch holes all over the egg and then count those holes together. Write the number on the egg so that your child can see what the number looks like.
For even bigger kids, use this activity for addition practice. Write a number at the top of the egg and one at the bottom. Draw a line across the middle to separate the numbers. Punch the correct number of holes at the top of the egg and at the bottom. Count the total number of holes to find the answer to the addition problem! So if a 4 is at the top and a 3 is at the bottom, there will be 7 holes total on the egg after the holes are punched.
More Learning Fun!
As you can see, adapting activities to fit different ages and learning levels of kids is not always as difficult as it may seem at first! Many times, taking an activity with definite directions and an expected outcome and making it open-ended is a great way to involve younger kiddos!
If you are looking for other fine motor activities or egg-themed fun, check out these must-try ideas!
[…] Egg cracking counting activity from Modern Preschool. Write a number on each card egg and get that hole puncher going! […]