Easter theme counting and shape book for early learners.

With Easter coming up in a few weeks I wanted to make something that would be appropriate for both my daughters (age 2 and 6). My youngest is currently working on her shapes and numbers. Although my youngest can count to 12 I’m trying to go beyond rote counting (remembering numbers) to rational counting (connecting numbers to their quantity). My oldest daughter is learning to read which takes utilizing countless strategies daily. Therefore I made an early reading shape and counting book to color that could be stapled together and turned into a book.

What really helps my youngest with rote counting are counting videos. We tend to dance to learning videos. As a way to get exercise in as we learn. It really helps her to learn, and get up and move around. My oldest daughter has always been a reluctant learner and struggles to pay attention and stay focused. It was a struggle for her to pay attention and memorize counting to 20. She started off Kindergarten struggling to count. It wasn’t until recently that she could make it to 120. Our dancing to counting videos really helped her as well.

Here is a list of counting videos we listen to the most to give you more ideas to help your reluctant learners or your eager to learn young learners…

*Jack Hartmann Grandma and Grandpa count to 120
*Jack Hartmann Welcome to the Zoo count to 120
*Count from 1-20

Stapled together, or could be hole punched and strung together.

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The above egg toys are fun shape and number learning toys my daughters enjoy playing with.

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Five coloring pages for early readers that are perfect for children that like animals.

I find when my oldest daughter (age 6) is reading she often tends to try to sound out sight words in which I remind her that certain words are more difficult to sound out and are meant to be memorized. With that in mind I made five fun coloring pages for my daughters to color over the weekend. Each page contains sentences containing plenty of sight words perfect for early readers. I bolded the sight words to make it easier for my daughter to spot them and remember they are words she needs to memorize rather than sound out. I went with numbers 1-5 for my youngest daughter (age 2). Although she can count to 10 I want to teach her the concept of numbers.

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Using penguins to decompose parts of a whole.

My oldest daughter is learning about decomposing parts of a whole in her Kindergarten math class. In order to incorporate additional practice I made a penguin theme activity in which I laminated to reuse often.

I wanted to keep the penguin play mat as an open ended activity therefore I went ahead and stuck the equal sign at the end of the addition problem. Since my youngest (age 2) is currently learning to count I wanted to make the activity one that could be helpful at both their levels. By keeping the equal sign at the end of the addition problem it makes the penguin activity suitable for basic addition practice. I used a dry erase board to further talk about decomposing the number 12 (12= 5+7) and introduce different ways to make that number. Writing out several different ways to make the number 12 also provided an opportunity to further explain that in addition problems no matter which number is first the answer is always the same. For example 5+7 and 7+5 both equal 12. During the activity you can allow the child to pick a number and then have them break down that number. Then ask them to tell you how many penguins are in the water and how many penguins are on land. Allowing them to play around with different numbers. I know for my daughter when she feels in control of an activity she’s more prone to follow through and enjoy it.

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Above items are my Amazon picks for helpful counting and math tools.

Are you looking for more counting and basic math ideas if yes click on the images below.

Christmas calendar with Christmas themed counting coloring pages.

My oldest daughter is currently working on learning sight words, reading written number words, and counting. My youngest daughter age two is gradually learning to count and is building a basic foundation of skills. Therefore I made a fun Christmas Calendar for my daughters to mark off each day with a fun corresponding coloring page.

Christmas Calendar laminated for durability.

The coloring pages represent numbers one through twenty-five. Each coloring page has simple sentences with sight words and the corresponding written number for extra reading practice. I opted not to include the number symbol because I wanted my oldest to try and write them by memory best she could. I figure everyday my daughters can color a coloring page and cut out the images for scissor practice, then glue them onto construction paper to make their own Christmas scenes.

Christmas Calendar Coloring Pages

1. I see one pretty Christmas tree.
2.    I see two kids wearing Christmas pajamas at nighttime.
3.  Do you see three gingerbread houses?
4.  I see four silly polar bears in Santa hats.
5.  I see five angels.   
6.  There are six hedgehog heads in Santa hats.
7.  I see seven penguins. 
8.  I see eight reindeer heads.
9.  I see nine gingerbread people that I can decorate myself.
10.  I see ten Christmas books.   
11.  I can see and count eleven dogs with Santa hats.
12.  I see twelve snow people in the snow.
13.  There are thirteen little candy canes for you and me.
14.  I see twelve Santa Clauses how many more would be needed to make fourteen?
15.  I see fifteen seals with Santa Hats.
16.  I can see and count sixteen chimneys.
17.  I see seventeen orcas.
18.  There are eighteen Christmas stockings.
19.  Do you see nineteen turtles in Santa hats?
20. There are twenty stars in the sky tonight.
21.  I see twenty-one gumdrops.
22.  There are twenty-two Santa hats.
23.  I see twenty-three ornaments.
24.  I see twenty-four elves.
25.  I see twenty-five presents.

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My youngest daughter gets into everything and since we tend to decorate our Christmas tree with ornaments my husbands mother bought him yearly when he was growing up we decided not to put out a normal tree. Instead last year and this year we decided to keep the ornaments safe from her. Instead we’ve been putting up the toy tree and the gingerbread house to play with. During the off season we store the tree in her bedroom for my daughters to pretend play Christmas together, stacking toys around the tree.

Thanks for stopping by LearningWithNanaHedgehog.com. Please keep in mind any printable activities are meant to be done with adult supervision even coloring as crayons can pose a choking hazard in small children.

Counting leaves coloring pages.

For the month of November our focus theme has been the leaves falling and changing colors during the Fall Season. Therefore I made five leaf counting coloring pages to go along with the theme of the month.

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Items above are some of the helpful tools my husband and I use to help teach our daughters how to count to 100 and do simple math problems. They both enjoy using the 100 placemat as they eat cereal and count together.

Thanks for stopping by LearningWithNanaHedgehog.com. Please remember any activities provided on LearningWithNanaHedgehog.com are meant to be done with adult supervision. Also any printable activities found on LearningWithNanaHedgehog.com are for personal use only.

If your looking for more leaf theme Fall learning ideas click on any of the images below.

The counting to twelve with leaves design is available for purchase through the NanaHedgehog shop on Redbubble.
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Pumpkin Counting Art Project and Coloring Pages.

Today my oldest daughter wasn’t in a mood to do school lessons therefore after we finished what she had to do for the day I threw in the activity below as a fun way to count and look at how math problems are set up. That way she could work on math, create art, and read all at the same time in a fun way. Daily I add in additional activities apart from her actual school lessons to add to our day. On days she’s not in the mood to do school I try to add in activities that allow her a little bit of creative freedom to keep her attention on lessons rather than running off in anger because she’s over learning for the day.

With my youngest I try to make sure my husband and I don’t lose focus on teaching her the basics since the majority of the day revolves around my oldest daughters homeschool lessons. Therefore I try to keep our activities toddler friendly. She enjoys using dot stickers, dot markers, and regular markers therefore I allow her to use them under adult supervision of course. She enjoyed drawing on the construction paper, as my oldest and I counted out the pumpkins on all three of our art projects.

My pumpkin counting art.
My oldest daughters pumpkin counting art.
My youngest daughters pumpkin counting art.
Supplies we used for the project.

Supplies We Used For Pumpkin Counting Art Activity…
-dot stickers to make larger pumpkins
-dot markers to make smaller pumpkins
-construction paper
-markers
For the project you could use crayons, any kind of markers, construction paper etc. to make the pumpkins whatever you have on a hand.

With my oldest in Kindergarten I’m trying to get her to read as much as possible, and my youngest turning two in November I’m always trying to come up with ways to integrate both their levels into the same activities.

Therefore I try to provide them with simple reading coloring pages weekly. Coloring pages with simple written sentences to help with my oldest daughters reading skills, and allow my youngest to work on holding crayons and enhancing her fine motor skills.

I made simple pumpkin counting coloring pages to go along with the pumpkin counting art project. I used the written words for the numbers to get my oldest daughter to work on reading number written words. I chose to go with numbers 6-10 to give her many pumpkins to color on each page.

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I hope the simple pumpkin counting art activity and pumpkin counting coloring pages will inspire and help you with your educational journey whatever that may look like right now, and thanks for stopping by LearningWithNanaHedgehog.com. Please remember all activities are meant to be done with adult supervision, and are for personal use only.

If your looking for additional pumpkin theme fun click on images below for more ideas.

Animals We See Outside Graph.

Now that it’s summer I have been trying to find fun outdoor activities to keep up on our preschool lessons. To make sure my oldest is fully ready for Kindergarten. We’ve been keeping up with our reading lessons, daily. We also try to count to 100 most days. Besides counting to 100 my husband and I find ways to sneak in counting and simple addition activities. I’ve been focused on pre reading and reading skills that math got lost in the shuffle of it all therefore I’ve been trying to be more proactive in fitting it in much more often.

Again; being summer I’ve been trying to find a way to bring our lessons outside as we breath in the fresh air and soak in nature. My youngest enjoys watching birds, squirrels, and bunnies. Luckily for her our backyard is full of tall trees and is the perfect place to look for small critters. I figured a way to keep both my daughters more excited about nature I’d make something I could laminate and take outside with us to mark off what we see.

I laminated the Animal Tracking Sheet to use again and again.

My daughter pointed out the lady bug on the chart and asked why a lady bug? I told her it just represented bugs in general she reluctantly accepted that fact. My daughters have short attention spans, therefore I only did 10 boxes to mark because I figured after they spotted the first several bugs they would be over looking for bugs. Bugs are abundant in our backyard if they pay attention they could find 100’s in seconds if they wanted, again I just kept it at a broad spectrum and told her we can look for any specific bugs we want. For example if she wanted to look only for spiders we could do that.

After filling out the chart and coming back inside for the day my daughters and I sit down and we talk about our data. I have my oldest count how many boxes she marked in each category. She had found 0 bunnies and 0 frogs, so I asked her which animals were spotted the same amount of times. Then I asked what animal was spotted the most times, the least? I made a graph to go along with the chart to fill out and see the data in a more visual way.

My oldest daughters graph filled out.
The graph I filled out to explain how graphs work to her.

I work best myself if I have a visual aid to remind me of everything I need to explain to a child that is learning basic information. I made a demonstration graph to keep me on track to talk about the key points of a graph to my daughter as we did our graphing activity. Also for her reference in the future.

I laminated the reference graph so it would last longer.

I laminated my sheets for durability, instead of wasting laminated pouches or if you don’t have a laminator reusable dry erase pockets are a perfect solution. The other items above are helpful visual aids when it comes to counting and or math skills. (I am a participant in Amazon affiliates and any qualifying purchases made through Amazon links above I earn commission on at no extra cost to you.)