At the beginning of the year, we work on teaching or reviewing the basic foundational math skill of one to one correspondence. A lot of my students start in Kindergarten knowing how to rote count, but without the skill of actually counting items and stopping at the last item. For some of my kiddos, it takes a lot of practice to master this skill, so I like to provide them with lots of fun activities all year.
There are so many different ways to practice this skill. I like to set up little activities throughout the year incorporating different manipulates and even books. Below is the the short list of my favorite manipulatives and pictures of some activities for practicing this skill.
Erasers
Oh, Target take ALL my money. I have an endless amount of erasers for every single holiday that exists. I just love that I can use them for so many different tasks (counting, patterns, put-in tasks, matching).
Clothespins
Clearly I’m obsessed with clothespins for a lot of my tasks, but they are so appealing to students and they also get some fine motor practice in too!
Coins
Whether you use real or play money, kids love it. We use pennies with our counting books to practice matching coins 1:1 and counting to 10.
Bingo Chips
Bingo chips are super cheap and so many uses for these. I love that you can add in some color matching and sorting.
Dabbers/Stamps
Dabbers are great for students that struggle with fine motor activities such as grasping a pencil or a small crayon.
Magnets (ten frame)
I got these giant magnet ten frames from Amazon last year and loved adding them to our magnet center for practice with counting out magnet numbers.
Felt
When I found these felt numbers at the Target Dollar spot, I completely emptied the basket. If you have a die cut machine at your school, you could buy felt at a craft store and make your own easily! I’m also a fan of felt pom poms for counting.
Muffin Tins & Ice Cube Trays
Egg Cartons
Books
There are a ton of books you can use in your classroom to read to students prior to completing counting activities. Use the books as a guide for your activities and what manipulatives you might want to use. Although you can buy books for your classroom library, most are available at the public library!
One to One Correspondence Book List:
-10 Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss
-10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle
-10 Black Dots by Donald Crews
-Bear Counts by Karma Wilson
-Chicka Chicka 123 by Bill Martin, Jr.
-How Many Bugs in a Box? by David A. Carter
-Counting by Henry Pluckrose
-Feast for 10 by Cathryn Falwell
-How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten? by Jane Yolen
-How Many Snails?: A Counting Book by Jr. Giganti Paul
-One Duck Stuck: A Mucky Ducky Counting Book by Phyllis Root
-Teddy Bear Counting by Barbara Barber McGrath
-Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins
-The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins
All of the activities shown above are from my One to One Correspondence Pack.
Other Fun Manipulatives For Counting:
Playdoh
Pom Poms
Linking Cubes
Teddy Bears
Buttons
Rocks
Seashells
Stickers
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