Montessori Learning to Count Activities

“Mom, is infinity a number?”

 “What’s infinity?”

Hearing my five and six year old discuss the term warmed my heart beyond words.

Cards & Counters is one of my all time favorite Montessori math activities.

What is it about counting that draws kids in? I know what draws me in.

(Source of image: snowcrystals.com)

Cards and counters provide variations for every theme, month, season, and holiday. The opportunity to get creative never ceases to exist. My mind is always churning with ideas for a new season. Freshening up your math center and Montessori math shelves is vital to keep children interested in wanting to learn more.

Numeration Activities for Kids are Fun

Maybe the dork inside me is speaking here but I absolutely adore the fact that my kids are curious about numeration. Do you want to know a secret? One of my favorite sounds is hearing my five year old count and count and count until he reaches level that impresses him. I relish in that moment when he stops and says under his breath “no, no, ummm…” and begins where he left off.  My sons love any cards & counters variation. We recently used a Thanksgiving themed cards & counters set.  Another favorite is our nature themed counters.

Included in this versatile Montessori Cards & Counters winter themed set are 1-10 one to one cards with variations symbol only, quantity only, and blank. There is a lot of room for variations!

Four learning to count activities included in this download so that you can match your child and their level of development:

1. cards with numbers in symbol and quantity
   • (use white pom poms, mini snowflakes, or small gems for one to one correspondence work)
2. cards with numbers in symbol & quantity at bottom
   • (use white or silver mini clothes clips, paper clips, or a snowflake or circle paper hole punch)
3. cards with numbers only
4. cards with symbols only

To prepare learning to count activities:

• Print on cardstock & laminate for safe keeping
• Provide gems, buttons, pom poms, or a paper hole punch ) to match the number
  on the card
• Once the child has mastered 1 to 1 correspondence, move onto symbol and have the child add the appropriate quantity of gems
• Have the child draw a number card, or roll dice, then place that many gems onto the blank card
• Create word problems with the cards
• Have the child do basic operations with pairs of cards

Definitely check out this Montessori Cards & Counter Lesson. To download the Montessori Cards & Counters Winter theme, check out my materials shop or my TpT Store!

Thanks for stopping by!

Marnie