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Lego Duplo is probably the #1 most used toy in our house at this stage, with an 11 month old and a 3.5 year old.

It's also such a fabulous learning tool. The other day I thought I'd make some fun number cards for the kids to play with.

We've really enjoyed playing with them and can see just how many uses they can have for early maths learning. Therefore, we just had to share them with you. :)

Free Printable Duplo Number Cards

Instructions For Printing: 

Click on each of the images below to take you to the document. (The Duplo Cards are saved as 3 different files in Google Docs. (1-4) (5-8) and (9,10,0) You'll need to open the 3 images to save all of them)

At the document, click File and then Download. Save the image to your computer and print copies as required.

For extra durability and usage, laminate the cards. If you don't have a laminator you could always cover with contact paper.

Please Note: When you open them in Google Docs, the picture may seem small but the file size is actually quite large. Once you have downloaded the documents to your computer, you will be able to print them full size. If all else fails, drop me an email and I'll send you a copy :)

Click to Download numbers 1-4

Click to Download numbers 5-8

Click to Download numbers 9,10,0

5 Fun Ways to use the Duplo Number Cards

1

Use them for Number Recognition, Reading Numbers and Counting.

Make a tower with corresponding number of blocks

For added colour recognition and cognitive processing, make the tower using the same colours as pictured

2

 Use them for Comparing Values

Which is the bigger/smaller number? Which is the tallest/shortest tower? Which has more/less blocks?

 3

Use the blank card to write numbers on

(If laminated, use a dry-erase/whiteboard marker)

Make numbers greater than 10

 4

Practice Addition and Subtraction

eg 10 blocks and 2 blocks make 12 blocks

5

Use the large number shapes to trace over and practice letter writing

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by just playing with the cards and making the corresponding towers

-Extend this activity by playing more games with the cards, ie. Memory, Matching Pairs (need to print 2 sets for these type of games). Focus on reading and recognising the written number and on adding 2 or more number cards together

- Add a dice for extra number recognition and roll and find the matching card. Roll 2 dice, find both cards and make a tower. Play in pairs to see who makes the bigger tower etc.


- Listen to your child talk as they go through their experiences. This will help you determine where they are at with their learning, knowledge and understanding and help you to develop the activity (or future activities) to their level and interests. If they are breezing through single digits, start to focus more on double digits

More Fun Maths for Kids 

Learning Numbers. Pretend Shop

Shopping Trip Number Hunt

Catalogue Number Find

Recycling Sorting Activity

Popcorn Fun

Happy playing,
Debs :)

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A little while back, due to an over-enthusiastic run-in hug with Daddy (her fault, not his), my little 3 year old lost a tooth! *sob*
Thankfully she was less upset over it than I was and after receiving $5 from the Tooth Fairy I decided we'd turn this unfortunate event, into a fun Maths learning excursion.

I decided to help her learn her numbers, (one at a time) with a fun shopping trip to spend the $5. Due to her age we focused mainly on number recognition while also touching on money and very simple addition.

Ages: 2+

(See ideas at the bottom to Extend or Simplify to meet your child's needs)

 As the focus of this trip was learning about the number 5, I gave her a $5 note (as opposed to, say 5, $1 coins) because it had the number 5 on it.

 We went to our local K-Mart as I knew that their price labels are very clear and easy to spot the numbers. Well, she found a 5 straight away (Therefore she could buy this, right?... nope) so we had the chance to talk about the preceding number and how that made it a different value, etc. This was practice recognising other numbers as well as learning about place value.

 It didn't take long for her to start spotting the 5's (on their own) all over the place

 But, what was she to buy? It was too hard to choose just 1 thing so this is where we brought the simple addition in. I exchanged her $5 note (we'd succeeded in learning to recognise the number 5 by now) for 5, $1 coins... allowing her the freedom to purchase more than one item.

This is where the simple addition came in. She finally decided on a $3 pack of markers and a $2 light-up pen. 3 and 2 together make 5! Using dollar coins for this allowed her to physically manipulate the coins to see how the addition worked and see exactly what she could buy.

Even months on from this activity, she will still inform me of any 5's she notices on price tags. They are everywhere! lol


Handy tips:

- You could use this for any number and play it while doing any kind of outing.

- Your child doesn't need to purchase anything. That just gave it more meaning and relevance for us, but you could always just play a game to see who could spot the most of a chosen number etc.

- Change the number each time you go out to learn all the numbers.

-  Repeat numerous times. Some children will need very few exposures to something before they have learnt and understood it, others will need the information reinforced many times before it's committed to memory. Each child is different so work to your child's abilities.

- To extend this activity, set your child different challenges with the money (eg, find me 2 items that add up to that amount etc) and start to focus more on addition and place value

- To simplify this activity, stick to one number and focus on helping your child to recognise it. Leave out any addition etc



Happy playing,
Debs :)

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Using the popular children's song "Elephants Balancing" as our inspiration, we create an easy but super cute picture.

Using memory to recreate the picture, fine motor skills to assemble it all, reasoning to figure out the order of pasting, verbal communication and recount to sing the song and early mathematics skills to count and add the elephants, makes this seemingly simple little activity full of fun and learning.

We used 3 elephants that we cut out of some recycled wrapping paper, 3 green kinder circles, some brown paper for the tree-trunks, a piece of string and a couple of pieces of paper to mount it all on.

Before sticking it all down, we created the picture first, rearranging it until we were happy with the design

 The next part of the activity included sticking down all the pieces back in their original places. Talk about the steps/order and layering. Which pieces need to be glued first? What would happen if we stuck the string down first? etc

Madeline's finished picture after she re-arranged it and glued it all down

Song Lyrics

One grey elephant balancing
Step by step on a piece of string
Thought it was such a wonderful stunt
That he called for another elephant

Two grey elephants balancing
Step by step on a piece of string
Thought it was such a wonderful stunt
That they called for another elephant

Three grey elephants balancing
Step by step on a piece of string
Thought it was such a wonderful stunt
That they called for another elephant

Four grey elephants balancing
Step by step on a piece of string
Thought it was such a wonderful stunt
That they called for another elephant

Five grey elephants balancing
Step by step on a piece of string
All of a sudden the piece of string broke
And down came all the elephant folk

 

Some tips:

- Use any elephant pictures you can find or draw them yourself. Cut them out of a picture, print some off the computer or make them from your child's hand prints etc.

- As our elephants were white (not grey), we had to change the lyrics in the song to suit our picture (eg "3 white elephants balancing...")

- To simplify this activity, do the cutting and arranging yourself and assist your child in sticking the pieces down, recalling where they went and the order they get stuck down while singing the song.

- To extend this activity, allow your child to do the cutting, arranging, memory recall, sticking etc as they are able.

- Figuring out the process and order to stick down the pieces will be challenging for young children so continue to communicate with them throughout the activity

- Here is a youtube video of the song with elephant puppets to compliment the activity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QXkFtdFy0A&feature=related

Debs :)

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