This collection is one of our Primary Curriculum collections - tasks that are grouped by topic.
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Counting Collections in the Early Years
In this article for practitioners, Cath Gripton and Deliah Pawluch explore the 'counting collections' approach, which encourages children to spend time playing and experimenting with counting.
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Tidying
When tidying away toys in this activity, children will use their counting skills to check that all the toys are in the box.
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Number Rhymes
In this activity, the rhyme 'Ten Green Bottles' is used to encourage children to count backwards to work out how many bottles are left.
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Incey Wincey
In this game, children roll the dice and count how many steps to move the spider up or down the drainpipe.
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Number Book
Creating a 'Book of Four' provides an opportunity for children to collect groups of four objects and consider how the groups of objects are similar.
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Estimation Station
This activity involves filling a jar with small objects to encourage estimation and counting skills.
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Using Books: Maisy Goes Camping
In this task, the book 'Maisy Goes Camping' by Lucy Cousins introduces children to the idea of using the size and number of objects to work out how many will fit in a 'tent'.
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The Voting Station
This task encourages children to count and compare numbers when using 'voting bricks' to vote for a book at story time.
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Beat the Clock
Children use everyday language to talk about time, to compare quantities and to solve problems
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Counting Collections
In this activity, children choose collections of items to count and are supported as they find ways to keep track of, and record, their counting.
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Biscuit Decorations
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
Andrew decorated 20 biscuits to take to a party. He lined them up and put icing on every second biscuit and different decorations on other biscuits. How many biscuits weren't decorated?
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Writing Digits
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
Lee was writing all the counting numbers from 1 to 20. She stopped for a rest after writing seventeen digits. What was the last number she wrote?
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Next Domino
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
Which comes next in each pattern of dominoes?
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Buzzy Bee
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
Buzzy Bee was building a honeycomb. She decorated the honeycomb with a pattern using numbers. Can you discover Buzzy's pattern and fill in the empty cells for her?
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Domino Sequences
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
Find the next two dominoes in these sequences.
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Robot Monsters
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
Use these head, body and leg pieces to make Robot Monsters which are different heights.
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Same Length Trains
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
How many trains can you make which are the same length as Matt's and Katie's, using rods that are identical?
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100 Square Jigsaw
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
Can you complete this jigsaw of the 100 square?
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Dotty Six
Age
5 to 11
Challenge level
Dotty Six is a simple dice game that you can adapt in many ways.
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All Change
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
There are three versions of this challenge. The idea is to change the colour of all the spots on the grid. Can you do it in fewer throws of the dice?
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How would we count?
Age
5 to 11
Challenge level
An activity centred around observations of dots and how we visualise number arrangement patterns.
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That number square
Age
5 to 11
Challenge level
Exploring the structure of a number square: how quickly can you put the number tiles in the right place on the grid?
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Five Steps to 50
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
Use five steps to count forwards or backwards in 1s or 10s to get to 50. What strategies did you use?
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How Many?
Age
5 to 11
Challenge level
Have a look at these photos of different fruit. How many do you see? How did you count?
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Missing Middles
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
Can you work out the domino pieces which would go in the middle in each case to complete the pattern of these eight sets of three dominoes?
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Making Sticks
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
Kimie and Sebastian were making sticks from interlocking cubes and lining them up. Can they make their lines the same length? Can they make any other lines?
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Grouping Goodies
Age
5 to 7
Challenge level
Pat counts her sweets in different groups and both times she has some left over. How many sweets could she have had?