Recently, I was asked to share fun learning ideas with a local moms’ group. I shared lots of simple activities that could be put together with supplies from around the house (or that could be found at the dollar store). One of the activities was our Number Matching Sun that strengthens fine motor skills and works on number and counting skills. It’s also super easy to put together and could be used as a busy bag at home or an independent learning center in the preschool classroom!
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How to Put Together the Number Match Sun
- yellow paper plates
- clothespins
- markers
We used the numbers 1-10 on our number sun, but you could fit 1-20 on a dinner size paper plate. I spaced the numbers evenly around the plate beginning with 1 at the top and 6 on the bottom. This helped with spacing. Use permanent marker on the plate. I found that other markers smeared and wouldn’t work for this activity.
On the clothespins, I added orange dots. I thought orange would be easier than yellow for little learners to point and count and point and count and figure out the correct number of dots without frustration. The clothespins had 1-10 dots on them. One clothespin for each number on the sun.
Seriously, it’s as simple as that!
My preschooler can recognize all of her numbers, so she didn’t need any help from me. And in fact, she insisted that I didn’t help her at all! I mixed up the clothespins so they were not in number order, and she started putting her number sun together. She worked from 1 all the way up to 10, placing the clothespins on the sun in that order.
This game is a great way to work on those fine motor muscles in little fingers and hands. Fine motor activities get hands ready to write and hold pencils and scissors correctly!
The busy bag also works on 1:1 correspondence, number recognition, and counting skills. If your child is not ready to point and count independently, you can point while your child counts. If your child does not recognize all numbers yet, have him count the dots and then together find the correct number on the sun.
This kind of learning activity can be adapted to fit your child’s individual needs and still be lots of fun! With all busy bag type activities, when you’re done, simply put all the materials into a resealable freezer bag and zip it up until next time!
The paper plate number sun can be adapted to help young children learn other skills like letters (where my inspiration for this activity came from!), shapes, colors, or even work on name recognition!
There are lots and lots of other learning ideas on my Pinterest boards! Are you on Pinterest? Follow me!
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