Counting Prepare a large bowl of bubbles. Invite each child to spoon bubbles into yogurt pot containers. Ask:
* Do you think that it is going to take more than five spoonfuls of bubbles to fill your yogurt pot?
* If you tip the bubbles into another container, do you think they will all fit in?
Numerals Hide some plastic or wooden numerals in the sand tray. Ask the children to see how many they can find before the one-minute sand timer runs out. Ask:
* What is this number called?
* Are any numbers the same?
* How many numbers did you find?
Calculating Using a container as a boat, ask a pair of children to find out how many beads the boat will hold before it sinks. Then try pebbles, cubes or other objects. Ask:
* How many pebbles could your boat hold altogether?
* Twelve beads made it sink, so how many could it hold and still stay afloat?
* Why did Sam's boat hold seven cubes before sinking, but only two stones?
Shape and space Ask one child to partially bury an object in the sand and ask another child to guess its identity, then dig it up to check. Ask the second child:
* You think it's a car. Which parts of the car are above the sand? Which parts do you think are below?
* You think it's a lion. Is more of the lion above or below the sand?
Measures Put a bowl of sand on a table and give each player a container and yoghurt pot. Each child takes a turn to roll a 1 to 3 dice, say the number, and fill their container with that many pots of sand. The game ends when someone's container is full. Ask:
* How many pots do you think it will take to fill up your container?
* Do you think it will hold another potful?
* Is your container as full as mine?
Malleable and tactile
Counting Ask each child to make fingerprints along a strip of paper, without them overlapping. Encourage each child to guess the number of prints before counting. Ask:
* Do you think Karim has done more than five or fewer than five fingerprints?
* Which strip of paper do you think has the most prints on?
Numerals Ask the children to make numbers with dough. Use wooden numerals or number cards to model the numbers. Ask each child to roll a snake of dough and shape it to make their number. Ask:
* Can you make the number of your front door/age/phone number?
* Which numbers have curved/straight lines? Which have both?
Calculating Hide a few similar objects, such as dinosaurs, in a feely bag. Invite the children to feel the bag, find out how many objects are inside and guess their identity. Ask:
* How many things would you have if I gave you one more?
* Swap with Courtney. Does she have the same number of things in her bag?
Shape and space Ask each child to draw a shape on paper, then to make the shape with dough. Invite children to discuss their ideas about how to do this. Ask:
* How are your drawing and dough shape the same/different?
* Draw a shape for someone else to make.
* What other things can you draw and make in dough?
Measures Ask each child to make a dough ball and to work in pairs to compare the weight. Ask:
* Hold a ball in each hand. Which hand feels like it wants to go down more?
* Put a ball in each bucket of the bucket scales. Which side goes down more? And what does that mean?
* How could you make a ball heavier? How could you make it about the same weight?
