* Use nursery rhymes that include number sequences, such as 'Five currant buns in a baker's shop'.
* Invent clapping hands and stamping feet games, such as 'Simple Simon says' that involve large and energetic body movements.
* Count to music where the children are involved in using the instruments and repeating that many sounds on the drums and shakers.
* Play board and table games, especially ones the children have invented. Use large track games outdoors.
* Involve children in purposeful counting of themselves and each other: 'We need four children to play this game', 'How many children can work at the sand tray?' * Use opportunities for counting in daily activities when putting away the bricks, the paint brushes, the dinosaurs.
* Play games using a large dice or spinner that involves collecting objects.
* Display notices that involve numerals: 'Come and look at the 4 paintings of sunflowers'.
* Put on the wall number lines made from carpet tiles, or suspend numbers on a washing line.
* Use plastic or wooden numbers to press shapes in the sand or net out of the water tray.
* Create opportunities for children to use number language in role play areas by providing telephones and directories, tills and till receipts, menus and price lists, television remote control and programme lists, pretend dials, push-button controls and slot machines.
* Provide a rich diet of discussion featuring numbers and counting.
* Put a number of objects in a cloth bag or soft pencil case and see if you can feel how many there are.
* Find out how many ducks will fit on a 1-10 number track if you put one on each space.
* Count how many plastic teddies you can fit along the edge of the table.
* Sort out the dominoes by counting the spots.
* Hide some objects in a box of shredded paper and see how many can be found.
* Decide how many shoes you need to put in three shoe boxes.
* Use the large blocks to build a tower and count how many bricks were used.
* Drop some pennies in a tin and count the sounds.
* Act out a number rhyme with props.
* Invent your own dance routine, such as two jumps, three steps sideways and one twirl.
