Valentine Numbers

Delaney is working on recognizing numbers 1-20. Learning with food is always a great time, so for Valentine's Day, we used some heart patterned plates and candy hearts.

The plates are numbered 1-20.

First, she put them in order.

We used 1-5 the first day, then 1-10 on subsequent days, using my approach I talked about with M&M Number Order.

Once she mastered putting the plates in order, we worked on sorting by color. I let her choose which plates to use for which colors, and we put all of the candy on the "0" plate so it wasn't confusing.

The next week, we sorted by color and started some basic graphing strategies. She put the candies in vertical lines beside each other. We talked about more and less, and how we could tell.

Then, we did some patterning with candy.

We may have snacked on a few while we played. Positive reinforcement for a job well done, right?

We used the candy and plates for the entire month of February, and did an activity about 3 or 4 days per week. By the end of the month, Delaney could get the materials and do the activities independently.